E 

A519\ 



L E T T E R 



TO 



LOUIS KOSSUTH 



CONCEKNING 



FREEUaM^ iCWl) SfeVERY 



IN THE UNITED STATES. 



IN BKHALF OF THK 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAYEUY SOCIETY. 



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BOSTON: 
PUBUSHED BY R. F. WALL(1UT, 

FOR TUK AMERICAN A. S. SOCIKTY. 

1852. 



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LETTER 



TO 



LOUIS KOSSUTH, 



CONCERNING 



FREEDOM AND SLAVERY 



IN THE UNITED STATES. 



IN BEHALF OF THE 



AMERICAN ANTI-SLAYERY SOCIETY. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY E. F. WALLCUT, 

FOR THE AMERICAN A. S. SOCIETY. 

1852. 



^i 5 <i 7 "Y 



George C. Rand, Printer, 3 Cornhill. 






LETTER TO KOSSUTH. 



To M. Louis Kossuth : 

Sir — We, the undersigned, officers of the American Anti- 
Slavery Society, — an association now in the eighteenth year of 
its existence, having for its object the emancipation of an immense por- 
tion of our countrymen from a thraldom which finds no toleration in 
any part of Europe, and no parallel in any other quarter of the globe, 
— respectfully take this method to convey to you an expression of those 
feelings which your visit to the United States has awakened in our 
breasts. We would gladly have had a personal audience, and were 
intending to seek it, if not in New York, at least on your intended visit 
to Boston ; but, from the tenor of your speeches, and especially since 
the publication of your significant Address to the People of the United 
States, bearing date of the 12ih December, (1) we are led to infer 
that such an interview, if solicited, would be regarded by you as super- 
fluous, if not intrusive. Nevertheless, for us wholly to keep silent, in 
the position you occupy as the professed friend of universal freedom, 
and the relation we sustain to the millions in slavery on our own soil as 
their representatives and advocates, would be doing violence to our con- 
victions of duty — a duty we owe to you, to ill-fated Hungary, to the 
cause of liberty throughout the world. That duty we shall endeavor to 
discharge with fidelity. 

(1) See Appendix. 



Sir, we have no parade to make of our abhorrence of the despotic 
power of Austria and Russia, or of our sympathy with bleeding 
and oppressed Hungary. Words are cheap — professions are easily 
made. If we had not been personally ready to meet obloquy, perse- 
cution and danger, through long years of conflict, in behalf of the 
down-trodden of our own land, we should be ashamed to look you in 
the face, or to take you by the hand, as a sufferer under the rod of 
tyranny. It is easy in America to denounce European injustice ; it is 
not less easy in Europe to reprobate American slavery ; but to be true 
to the principles of justice and humanity, on both sides of the Atlantic, 
in every land, is to be sublimely heroic. 

Partly through the intercession of the American Government, you 
have been released from an irksome confinement in Turkey, — a con- 
finement without injustice, and bringing with it distinguished hospitality 
as well as personal safety for the time being, — and now stand on the 
American soil, " a poor, persecuted, penniless exile," " the wandering 
son of a bleeding nation," whose reception has been so triumphant as to 
be without a parallel. It is very natural, therefore, that you should feel 
— it is highly proper that you should express — strong emotions of grati- 
tude both to the government and people of the United States. But 
neither your release, on the one hand, nor your sense of obligation, on 
the other, can justify you in conniving at the horrible crimes perpetrated 
by that people and government ; nor can the condition of Hungary ex- 
cuse you from being as honest and truthful here, as you have shown 
yourself to be heroic and self-sacrificing at home. 

We frankly confess, that our solicitude for the preservation of your 
manhood and the integrity of your soul was extreme when we first 
heard of your intention to come to the United States, — knowing, as we 
did, that your visit must be made under circumstances calculated to 
blind your vision, obstruct your freedom of utterance, shake your moral 
firmness, and circumscribe your action. This solicitude was not dimin- 
ished by the recollection, that no distinguished European, whether 
statesman or divine, whether patriot or philanthropist, (with hardly an 
exception,) had ever failed, in some way or other, to prove himself 
recreant to principle almost as soon as he had touched our soil, by a 
servile course of policy in regard to the omnipresent and omnipotent 
Slave Power of the land. Still, you had exhibited so much courage, 
voluntarily encountered so many perils, spurned so many bribes, over- 
come so many temptations, endured so many hardships, for the sacred 
cause of liberty in your native land, we were determined to hope to the 



5 

last, that here it would he shown to the world, you would never 
sacrifice principle to expediency, nor allow a padlock to he put upon 
your lips. And when we read your glowing speeches in England, in 
which you declared — " I am a man of justice, right and liberty, and will 
be so my whole lifetime — little do I care what the sworn enemies of 
justice, right and liberty may call me — there is a common tie which 
binds the destiny of humanity — liberty, being the common bond of man- 
kind, constitutes the union of heart with heart — how can men be con- 
tented without freedom ? — this fair world was not created by God to be 
a prison to humanity, neither is it created for the jailor's sake — the 
principles of freedom are in harmony, and I love, 1 am interested in the 
freedom of all other countries as well as my own — to me life has no 
value, but only as much as I can make use of it for the liberty and inde- 
pendence of my country, and for the benefit of humanity — though my 
words and my pronunciation be bad, my heart is true to the principles 
of freedom and liberty, not the privileges of a class, but the freedom of 
ail for all — my heart, as well as my arm, will ever be ready, to my last 
moments, to give effective success to those principles which are the very 
root of my life " — &c., &c., we were inspired to hope and believe that, 
on the blood-stained soil of America, you would stand erect, cost what 
it might, and still " give the world assurance of a man," 



" "Who would not flatter Neptune for his trident, 
Nor Jove for his power to thunder." 



Alas ! sir, already our hopes are in the dust! 

Less than a month has elapsed since your arrival ; but, during that 
brief period, you have made more addresses, and received more delega- 
tions, — representing various professions, societies and corporations, — 
than any other man living. Your addresses have been characterized by 
astonishing versatility and copiousness, as well as charged with the 
electric flame of an oriental eloquence ; you have discussed a wide 
range of topics ; you have marked out your own cpurse, and been left 
unembarrassed by any distinct presentation of a mooted question ; you 
have shown yourself no stranger to the history, growth and power of 
this nation ; and you seem to have found among us, as a people, every 
thing to admire and extol, in strains of loftiest panegyric. But there is 
one topic that you have shunned, as though to name it would be a crime, 
— and that is, SLAVERY ! There is one stain on our national 
escutcheon that your vision has failed to detect, — and that is, the blood 



6 

of the almost exterminated Indian tribes, and of millions of the de- 
scendants of Africa ! There is one fact that you choose to be ignurai 
of, — and that is, that every sixth person in this land, among a people, 
swarming from ocean to ocean, is a fettered slave, an article of property, 
a marketable commodity, — to plead for whose restoration to freedom is 
the most odious and the most hazardous act that can be performed! 

Thus far, then, you have eyes, but see not ; you have ears, but hear 
not — except what you suppose is in accordance with popular sentiment, 
and will be sure to further your own designs. 

Landing as you did on these shores, a liberated captive, the victim of 
European absolutism, an exile from your native country, and asking 
sympathy and aid in the spirit of universal liberty ; — coming here, 
moreover, at a period when the all-absorbing question in the land relates 
to the enslavement of the wretched millions already alluded to, — when 
the national government is prosecuting, as guilty of high treason, those 
who defend themselves against prowling slave-hunters and mercenary 
kidnappers, — when the panting fugitives from Southern plantations are 
hunted by bloodhounds, two legged and four legged, throughout our 
wide domains, and can find succor and the recognition of their common 
humanity only as they escape to Canada, and exchange the American 
star-spangled banner for the British flag, — when " the propagation, pres- 
ervation and perpetuation of slavery " are officially declared to be 
essential to the continuance of the American Union, — when a strict 
adherence to bloody and atrocious compromises, made in furtherance of 
the fiendish designs of the Slave Power, is declared to be the test of 
loyalty, not to the present administration, but to the government itself, — 
and, finally, when the most flagitious efforts are making to seize Cuba, 
and also still other portions of distracted, ill-fated, subjugated Mexico, in 
order to enlarge and strengthen our doubly accursed slave system, — it 
was natural that the uncompromising advocates of impartial liberty 
should look to you for at least one word of sympathy and approval, — at 
least an incidental expression of grief and shame at the existence of a 
bondage so frightful, in a land so boastful of its freedom. How, under 
circumstances so extraordinary and revolting, — especially as the un- 
daunted champion of freedom, — could you expect to find neutral 
ground ? to please alike the traffickers in human flesh, and those who 
execrate that traffic ? to be considered as neither on one side nor the 
other ? to be allowed to skulk behind the flimsy subterfuge of foreign 
non-intervention, as an excuse for remaining dumb and insensate in the 
immediate presence of millions of your fellow-creatures in chains, and 



herded with the beasts that perish ? Deplorable as. it is, the relation of 
our countrymen to the Austrian government is incomparably more 
..opeful, a million times less appalling, than that of our slave population 
to the American government ; yet you invoke for the Hungarians the 
sympathy of the civilized world — for their prompt deliverance, you 
insist that both England and America should interfere, by expostulation, 
remonstrance and warning, — even, if need be, at the point of the bayo- 
net and the mouth of the cannon, though both nations should thereby 
become doubly bankrupt, though it should cause a deluge of blood to 
flow ! The representatives of the vast slave population of the United 
States ask you to join no particular party in their behalf, to give no 
countenance to a bloody struggle for their emancipation, but simply to 
recognize the shocking inconsistency and awful guilt of this nation in 
trampling under foot its heaven-attested declarations of freedom and 
equality ; and what is your answer ? It is, that, neither directly nor 
indirectly, neither by oral testimony nor overt act, will you concern 
yourself with any matter now in controversy on the American soil ! 
You are a Hungarian : what is it to you, that, in this country, one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand kidnappers claim and possess as their property 
more than three millions of the population ? You are a foreigner : why 
should you " meddle " with any of our " domestic institutions " ? It is 
not for you, but for such as reside here, to exclaim, if they think the 
matter worth a moment's consideration : — 



" What, ho ! — our countrymen in chains ! 

The whip on woman's shrinking flesh ! 
Our soil yet reddening with the stains, 

Caught from Iier scourging, warm and fresh I 
What 1 mothers from tlieir children riven ! 

What ! God's own image bought and sold ! 
Americans to market driven. 

And bartered as the brutes for gold ! " 



You are a fugitive from Austrian vengeance, as a rebel, and as the 
leader in a formidable insurrectionary movement : now that you want 
money and arms to renew the bloody struggle, why should you evince 
any sympathy for the hunted fugitives from Southern slaveholding 
barbarity, — fugitives who raise no standard of revolt, and whose only 
crime is in trying to gain their freedom without any injury to their 
merciless oppressors ? Has not every nation a right to do as it 
pleases within its own boundaries ? If cannibalism prevails in the 
Fejee Islands, or man-stealing in the United States, let no foreigner 



8 

presume to interfere with the practice, even to the extent of a single 
remonstrance ! 

Such is the humiliating position you now occupy before the world. 
Sir, your honors and laudations are purchased at too great cost ; you 
are seeking aid for Hungary by a cowardly and criminal policy, that 
shall turn to ashes like the apples of Sodom to the taste ; while declaim- 
ing against Jesuitism as the scourge of Europe, you are acting on the 
Jesuitical maxim, " the end sanctifies the means." Has it come to this, 
O Kossuth, that you are fearful, and dare not speak ; selfish, and dare 
not pity ; a Hungarian for Hungarians, and nothing for mankind ? 
Cease, then, to declaim against timidity, against selfishness, against 
national indifference to human wrongs ! Assume no longer the charac- 
ter of a champion of liberty, talk not of being animated by a divine 
inspiration, and quote no more reproachfully the Cain-like interrogation, 
" Am I my brother's keeper ? " 

Unquestionably, your first fatal step in this downward career was 
taken when, in your Turkish asylum and prison, you consented to accept 
the proffered interposition of this slaveholding government to obtain 
your liberation ; which, if it did not necessarily imply, on your part, a 
pledge that you would not, on your arrival here, say or de aught to 
swell the tide of anti-slavery sentiment, or indulge in any language 
criminating the character of the nation, was certainly so regarded by 
the Executive and Congress of the United States, from considerations 
both of comity and gratitude. Having taken that step, all the rest 
have followed naturally and inevitably. 

" Facilis descensus Averni, 



Sed revocare gradum — 
Hoc opus, hie labor est." 

But, sir, what right had you to enter into such an arrangement, or to 
impose upon yourself such an obligation ? Your liberation was an 
object of great solicitude to yourself personally, and of vast importance 
to Hungary, beyond a doubt ; but not the safety of a Kossuth, not 
even the freedom of Hungary, can atone for connivance at crime, or 
justify an alliance with tyrants in any quarter of the globe. Integrity is 
more than life — honor better than success — the Golden Rule, " What- 
soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," of 
more importance than the overthrow of the house of Hapsburg. 

Possibly, when in Turkey you accepted the proffered hospitality of 
this nation, you were ignorant of the fact, that it is the most shameless 
slave-holding and slave-trading nation in the world, and so made no 



compromise with it for favors received. Possibly, you were not at that 
time aware of the astounding fact, that the very same session of the 
American Congress which passed the resolves respecting the release of 
Louis Kossuth and his associates in exile, and their transportation to 
this country in one of its naval ships, also enacted the merciless Fugitive 
Slave Law — a Law, which, on account of its atrocious provisions, has 
convulsed even this hardened republic, and sent a thrill of horror 
throughout all Europe. Possibly, you were not then apprised that, in 
one half of the American Union, the advocates of negro emancipation 
are outlawed, or, whenever caught, subjected to the lynch code ; that, 
in the other half, the wealth, the talent, the respectability, the power, 
the accredited piety, are combined to crush every demonstration for 
the extinction of slavery. But, on your arrival in England, if hitherto 
ignorant of these matters, you were promptly enlightened by the vigi- 
lant friends of universal freedom in that country. Private and public 
addresses were forwarded to you from individuals and societies, — Scot- 
land and Ireland uniting with England in these appeals to your moral 
sense, — expressly in reference to the slavery question in America, 
warning you of your danger, imploring you to be true to your prin- 
ciples on her polluted soil, revealing to you the horrors of the American 
slave system, in some instances conjuring you not to cross the Atlantic, 
but to announce to the world your unwillingness to purchase favor at 
the sacrifice of honor. Nothing was left undone to purge your vision, 
enlighten your understanding, or affect your heart. It does not yet 
appear that you had the courtesy or courage, even in England, to make 
a single reply to those philanthropic and Christian appeals, or in any 
speech to allude to the subject of American slavery. 

It is plain, therefore, that you came to these shores with your eyes 
open, your mind intelligently informed, your conscience thoroughly 
probed ; — came, alas ! not to be faithful, but time-serving — not to 
temper praise with reproof, but to deal in wholesale flattery — not to 
maintain an erect position, but to bend the knee to " the dark spirit of 
slavery," so that the cause of Hungary might proi^per ! You are 
doubly criminal ; for you not only omit to rebuke this nation for the 
glaring inconsistency of its practice with its professions, but you have 
already exhausted the language of eulogy upon its Union, its Constitu- 
tion, its institutions, its greatness and power, its freedom and purity, its 
humanity and piety. In no instance do you qualify your praise, or hint 
at any thing to be lamented in our national career. The vanity of our 
countrymen is proverbial, and never has it been so skilfully or pro- 
2 



10 



fusely administered to as by your own hand. That a candid world may 
see, at a glance, the prodigality of your flattery, we place in one column 
a few specimens culled from your various speeches ; and then, in an 
opposite column, to show how widely at variance with the truth are your 
encomiums — what deeds of horror, oppression and blood are legalized 
in the United States — we present some of the features of our slave 
system : — 



" May your kind anticipations of me be not 
disappointed! I am a plain man. I have 
nothing in me but lionest fidelity to those 
principles wliich liave made you great, and 
my most ardent wish is that my own country 
may be, if not great as yours, at least as free 
and as /lappij, wliich it will be in the establish- 
ment of the same great principles. The 
sounds I now hear .seem to me the trumpet 
of resurrection for down-trodden humanity 
throughout the world." — [Reply to Dr. Doane, 
at Staten Island.] 

"The twelve hours that I have had the 
honor and happiness to stand on your glorious 
s/wres give me a happy augury of the fact that 
during my stay here in tlie United States, I 
shall have a pleasant duty to perform — to 
answer the many manifestations of the gen- 
erous puplic spirit of the people of this coun- 
try. * * * Citizens, accept my 
fervent thanks for your generous welcome on 
my arrival to your happy shores, and my bles- 
sing upon you for the sanction of my" hopes 
which you express. You have most truly ex- 
pressed what my hopes are, when you tell me 
what you consider tiie destiny of your glorious 
country to he — when you tell me that hence- 
forth the spirit of liberty shall go forth and 
achieve the freedom of the world. * * * 
I coniideiitly hope, citizens, that as you have 
anticipated my wishes by the expression of 
your generous seutimentSj even so will you 
agree with me in the conviction, that the spirit 
of liberty has not only spiritually but materially to 
go forth from your glorious country, in order that 
it may achieve the freedom of the world. The 
spirit itself is the in.spiring power to deeds, 
but yet no deed in itself; and you need not be 
told that those who would be free must, be- 
sides being inspired, also ' strike the blow.' 
Bespotism and oppression never yet were 
beaten, except by heroic resolution, and vig- 
orous, manly resistance. That is a sad neces- 
sity, but it is a necessity nevertheless. I have 
so learned it out of the great book of history. 
I hope the people of the United States will 
remember that, in the liour of their nation's 
glorious struggle, they received from Europe 
more than kind wishes and friendly sympathy. 
They received material aid from others in 
times past, and they will doubtless impart 
now their mighty agency in achieving the 
liberty of other lands." 

" Citizens. 1 thank you that you have ad- 
dressed me through your speaker, not in the 
language of party, but in the language of lib- 
erty, and therefore the language of the people of 
the United States.^' * * * 

" Take, for instance, the glorious struggle you 
had not long ago with Mexico, in which General 
Scott drove out the President of that republic 
from his capital. Now, suppose General 
Santa Anna had come to Washington, and 



PROFESSION. 

" We hold these truths to be self-evident : 
that all men are created ec^ual ; that they are 
endowed by their Creator with certain inalien- 
able rights ; that among these are life, LIBER- 
TY, and the pursuit of happiness." — [Declara- 
tion of American Independence. 

PRACTICE. 

By the census of 1790. the number of 
SLAVE.S in the United States was six hun- 
dred and ninety-seven thousand eight hun- 
dred and ninety-seven. 

In 1800, eiglit hundred and ninety-three 
thousand and forty-one 

In 1810, one million one hundred and 
ninety-one thousand three hundred and sixty- 
four. 

In 1820, one million five hundred and 
thirty-eight thousand and sixty-four. 

In 18.30, two millions and nine thousand 
and thirty-one. 

In 1840, two millions four hundred and 
eighty-seven thousand three hundred and 
lifty-tive. 

In 1850, THREE MILLIONS ONE HUN- 
DRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN THOU- 
SAND FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGUTY- 
NINE. 

"Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, re- 
puted and adjudged in law to be chattels per- 
sonal in the hands of their owners and posses- 
sors, and their executors, administrators and 
assigns, to all intents, constructions and pur- 
poses whatsoever." — [Law of South Carolina. 
2 Brev. Dig. 229. 

"A slave is one who is in the power of a 
master to whom he belongs. The master may 
sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, 
and his labor : he can do nothing, possess 
nothing, nor acquire anything but what must 
belong to his master.'-— [Civil Code of Louisi- 
ana, Art. 35. 

" The slave is one doomed in his own person, 
and in his posterity, to live without knowl- 
edge, and without capacity to make any thing 
his^own, and to toil that others may reap the 
fruits. . . The end is the proiit of the master, 
his security, and the public peace. . . The 
power of the master must be absolute to ren- 
der the submission of the slave perfect. . . In 
the actual condition of things, it must be so. 
There is no remedy. This discipline belongs to 
slavery." — [Opinion of the Supreme Court of 
North Carolina, delivered by Judge Ruflin, 
State vs. Mann, 2 Dev. Rep. 263. 

" The system of slavery denies to a whole 
class of human beings the sacredness of mar- 
riage and of home, compelling them to live in 
a state of concubinage ; for, in the eye of tho 



11 



driven away President Taylor, would General 
Taylor have ceased to bo the rightfully elected 
Tresident of the United States, from tlie fact 
tliat a foreign power had, for a moment, 
forced him to leave liis place ? 1 believe there 
is not a single man in the Unitei States who 
would say yes." — [Sjieeck at Suuen Isla7ul.] 

" Let me, before I go to work, have some 
hours of rest upon Ms soil, of freedom, your 
happy liome. Freedom and Home ! what 
heavenly music in those two words 1 Alas, I 
have no homo, and the treedom of my people 
is down-trodden. Yoim^ Gta/it of free Amer- 
ica, do not tell me that thy shores are an 
asylum to the oppressed, and a home for the 
homeless exile. An asylum it is, but all the 
blessings of your glorious country, can they 
drown into oblivion the longing of the heart, 
and the fond desires, for our native land ? 
***** 

" Even here, with this prodigious view of 
greatness, freedom, and happiness, which 
spreads before my astonished eyes, my 
ttioughts are wandering towards home ; and 
wlieu I look over the.-<e thousands of tliou- 
sands before me, the hapjiy inheritance of 
yonder freedom for which your fatners fought 
and bled — and when I turn to you, citizens, to 
bow before the majesty of the United States, 
and to thank the people of New York for 
their generous share in my liberation, and for 
the unparalleled honor of this reception, I 
see, out of the very midst of this great assem- 
blage, rise the bleeding image of Hungary, 
looking to you with anxiety whether there lie 
in the lustre of your eyes a ray of hope for 
her ; whether there be in the thunder of your 
hurrahs, a trumpet-call of resurrection. If 
there were no sucli ray of hope in your eyes, 
and no such trumpet-call in your cheers, then 
wo to Europe's oppressed nations! Tliey will 
.stand alone in the hour of need. Less fortu- 
nate than you were, they will meet no broth- 
er's hand to help them in the approaching 
giant struggle against the leagued despots of 
the world ; and wo also to me. I will feel no 
joy even here, and the days of my stay here 
will turn out to be lost for my father-land — 
lost at the very time when every moment is . 
teeming in the decision of Europe's destiny. 

" I have to thank the people. Congress and 
Government of the United States, for my lib- 
eration from captivity. Human tongue has 
no words to express the bliss which I felt 
when I — the down-trodden Hungary's wand- 
ering chief — saw the glorious flag of the stripes 
and stars fluttering over my head — when I iirst 
bowed before it with deep respect — when I 
saw around me the gallant officers and the 
crew of the Mississippi frigate — the most of 
them the worthiest representatives of true 
American principles, American greatness, Ameri- 
can generosity — and to think that it was not a 
mere chance which cast the star-spangled 
banner around me, but that it was your pro- 
tecting tviU — to know that the United States of 
America, conscious of their glorious calling as welt 
as of their power, declared by this unparalleled act 
to be resolved to become the protectors of human 
rights — to see a jjowerful vessel of America 
coming to far Asia, to break the chains by 
which the mightiest despots of Europe let- 
tered the activity of an exiled Magyar, wliose 
very name disturbed the proud security of 
tlieir sleep — to feel restored by such a protec- 
tion, and in such a way, to freedom, and by 



law, no colored slave-man is the husband of 
any wife in particular, nor any slave-woman 
the wife of any husband in particular; no 
slave-man is the father of any children in 
particular, and no slave child is the child of 
anv parent in particular." — [Rev. Kobert J. 
Breckenridge, D. i>. of the Presbyterian 
Church, himself a slave-holder in Kentucky. 

If more than seven slaves are found together 
in any road, without a Avhite person, twenty 
lashes a piece ; for visiting a plantation with- 
out a written pass, ten lashes ; for letting loose 
a boat from where it is made fast, thirty-nine 
lashes for the first offence — and for the second, 
shall have cut off from his head one ear; for 
keeping or carrying a club, thirty-nine lashes ; 
for having any article for sale, without a ticket 
from his master, ten lashes; for travelling in 
any other than the most usual and accustomed 
road, when going alone to any place, forty 
lashes; for travelling in the night, without a 
pass, forty lashes ; for being found in another 
person's negro-quarters, forty lashes ; for hunt- 
ing with dogs in the woods, thirty lashes ; for 
being on horseback without the written per- 
mission of his master, twenty-five lashes : for 
riding or going abroad in the night, or riding 
horses in the day time, without leave, a slave 
may be whipped, cropped, or branded in the 
cheek with the letter II, or otherwise punish- 
ed, not extending to life, or so as to render him 
unfit for labor — &c. &c. &c.— [Laws of the 
Slave States. — See 2 Brevard's Digest, Hay- 
wood's Manual, 1 Virginia Revised Code, 
Prince's Digest, Missouri Laws, Mississippi 
Revised Code. 

" If any emancipated slaye (infantiexcepted) 
shall remain within the State more than 
twelve months after his or her right to free- 
dom shall have accrued, he or she shall forfeit 
all such right, and may be apprehended and 
sold by the overseers of the poor, &c. for the 
benefit of the literary fund." — [Rev. Code ot 
Virginia, 436. 

" Every negro or mulatto found within the 
State, and not having the ability to show him- 
self entitled to freedom, may be sold, by order 
of the court, as a slave." — [Mississippi Rev. 
Code, 3S'J. 

By T. J. Waish & Co.— Private sale. 1 Berk- 
shire Sow, four months old ; 1 Susse.x Boar 
Pig, 2J months old. A Negro Man, aged 
about 38 ; a carpenter. Titles undoubted. 

Cook at Private Sale. — Will be sold at pri- 
vate sale, a mulatto woman, named Mary, 
about 48 years of age. a good cook, washer 
and iroiier, a fair pastry cook, perfectly hon- 
est, and very cleanly, and kind and attentive 
to children. If not sold on the first Monday 
of .July ne.xt, she will then be ofi'ered at pub- 
lic auction. Apply to T. B. BAKE II, or 
JOHN STUBBS. 

Cow AND Calf for Sale.— A prime young 
milch cow and calf, for sale as above.— [South 
Carolinian. 

AnMiNisTR.\TOR's Sale.— On the first Tuesday 
in May next, within the legal hours of sale, 
before the Court House in Effingham County, 
ttie following property, belonging to the es- 
tate of Gideon C. Bevill, late of Chatham 
County, decea.'^ed : Two Timber Carriages, 
one Wood Flat, one Jack Screw, one WritiuR 



y 



12 



freedom to activity, you may be well aware 
of what I have felt, and still feel, at the re- 
membrance of this proud moment of my life. 
Others spoke — you acted; and I ii-as free ! You 
acted ; and at this act of yours, tyrants trembled; 
kuiniinity shouted out ivithjoy ; the down-trodden 
people of Magyrirs— the down-trodden, but not 
broken— raised his head with resolution and 
with hoi^e, and the brilliancy of your stars was 
greeted by Europe's oppressed nations as the morn- 
ing star of rising liberty. Now, gentlemen, you 
must be aware liow boundless the gratitude 
must be which 1 feel for you. You have re- 
stored me to life — because restored to activ- 
ity ; and should my life, by the blessings of 
tlie Almighty, still prove useful to my father- 
land, and to humanity, it will be your merit 
— it will be your work. May you and ^o!«r 
glorious country be blessed for it. * * 

" What is the motive of my beiug here at 
this very time ? The motive, "citizens, is, that 
your generous act of my liberation has raised 
the conviction throughout the world, that 
this generous act of yours is but the manifes- 
tation of your resolution to throw your 
weight into the balance where the fate of the 
European continent is to be weighed. You 
have raised the conviction throughout the 
world, that by my liberation you were willing 
to say, • Ye oppressed nations of old Europe's 
continent, be of good cheer ; the young giant of 
America stretches his powerful arm over the waves, 
ready to give a brother^s hand to your future.^ So 
is your act interpreted throughout the world. 
You, in your proud security, can scarcely 
imagine how beneficial this conviction has 
already proved to the sufi'ering nations of the 
European continent. You can scarcely 
imagine what .self-confidence you have added 
to the resolution of the oppressed. You have 
knit the tie of solidarity iu the destinies of 
nations." * * * * 

"Your generous act of my liberation is 
taken by the world for the revelation of the 
fact, that the United States are resolved not to 
allow the despots of the world to tratnple on op- 
pressed humanity. It is hence that my libera- 
tion was cheered, from Sweden down to Port- 
ugal, as a ray of hope. It is lieuce that even 
those nations which most desire my presence 
in Europe now, have unanimously told me, 
' Hasten on, hasten on to the great, free, rich 
and powerful people of the United States, and 
bring over its brotherly aid to the cause of 
your country, so intimately connected with 
European liberty ; ' and here I stand to plead 
the cause of the solidarity of human rights 
before tlie great republic of the United States. 
Humble as 1 am, God, the Almighty, has selected 
7ne to represent the cause of humanity before you. 
My warrant to this capacity is written in the 
sympathy and confidence of all who are oppressed, 
and of all wlio, as your elder brother, the 
people of Britannia, sympathise with the op- 
pressed—my wanaut to this capacity is writ- 
ten in the hope's and expectations you have 
entitled the world to entertain, by liberating 
me out of my prison, and by restoring me to 
activity." # * * # 

. "The people of England desire the broth- 
erly alliance of the United States to secure to 
every nation the sovereign right to dispose of 
itself, and to protect the sovereign right of 
nations against the encroaching arrogance of 
despots, and leagued to you against the league 
of despots, to stand, together with you, god- 
father to the approaching baptism of Euro- 
pean liberty. JSow, gentlemen, 1 have stated 



Desk, two Negro Men, Adam and Fraiser, 100 
acres of Land, &c. 

E. W. SoLOJioxs, Adm'r. 

35 Likely Neqiioes for S.iLE.— The sub.scri- 
ber having purchased Byrd Hill's old stand, 
on Adams street, will keep a good lot ot Ne- 
groes, fresh from North Carolina, Virginia, 
and Jliddle Tennessee. A partner is now in 
Richmond, Va., and will buy a lot of plough 
boys and small girls for the Spring trade, and 
will be out soon. I have ample room to ac- 
commodate traders, and board negroes, and 
sell on commission, &c. Benj. Little. 

Negroes for Sale.— A likely young mulatto 
fellow, about 20 years old ; a boy, black, about 
28 years old ; a boy, dark mulatto, 27 years of 
age. The above negroes are warranted sound, 
and will be sold low for cash by 

MCivEEN- & MaBFITI. 

lO^ Speculators in slaves are found on ev- 
ery Court Yard, and at every hiring ground 
where slaves are to be disposed of We would 
therefore recommend to such of our readers 
as have negroes to sell, to keep a steady eye 
upon the market, as this species of property 
seems to be steadily improving in point of 
value.— [North Carolina paper. 

Ranaway, on Wednesday last, my Mulatto 
Woman, Louise, about 27 years of age, 5 feet 
2 inches in height, hair nearly straight, and 
is quite fleshy. She speaks the .French and 
Spanish languages, and is shrewd and intelli- 
gent. I will give lifty dollars for her deten- 
tion and delivery to me. 

Georoe Schumaker. 

$100 Reward will be given for the appre- 
hension of my negro, Edward Kenney. He 
has straight hair, and complexion so nearly 
white, that it is believed a stranger would 
suppose that there was no African blood in 
him. He was with my boy Dick a short time 
in Norfolk, and offered him for sale, and was 
apprehended, but escaped under pretence of 
being a white man(I) Anderson Bowles. 

Richmond, Va., Jan. 6, 1836. 

Ranaway from the subscriber, working on 
the plantation of Col. U. Tinker, a bright mu- 
latto boy, named Alfred. Alfred is about 18 
years old, pretty well grown, has blue eyes, 
light flaxen hair, skin disposed to freckle. He 
will try to pass as free-born. 

Green County, Ala. S. G. Stewart. 

$100 Reward. — Ranaway from tlie subscri- 
ber, a bright mulatto man-slave, named !>am. 
Light sandy hair, blue eyes, ruddy complex- 
ion ; is so white as very easily to pass for a 
free white man. Edwin Feck. 

Mobile, April 22, 1837. 

Ranaway, on the 1.5th of May, from me. a 
negro woman, named Fanny. Said woman 
is 20 years old ; is rather tall ; can read and 
write, and so forge passes for herself; is very 
pious. She jirays a great deal, and was, as 
supposed, (!) contented and happy(l) She is 
as white as most white women, with straight 
light hair, and blue eyes, and can pass herself 
for a white woman. I will give S500 for her 
apprehension and delivery to me. She is very 
intelligent. John Balcu. 

Tuscaloosa, May 29, 1845. 



my position. I am a stiai.nhi-rorwai'il man. 
I am a republican. 1 iiave avowed it openly 
in monarchical, but free England ; and 1 am 
happy to state that I have nothin-; lost by this 
avowal there. I hope 1 will not lose here, in 
republican America, by that frankness, which 
must be one of the cliief qualities of every 
republican." * * * * 

•' I profess, highly and openly, my admira- 
tion to;- t/ie glorious principle of union, on which 
stands tiie miglity pyramid of your greatness, and 
upon the basis of Avliich you have grown, in 
tlie short period of seventy-iive years, to a 
prodigious giant, the living wonder of the 
world. I have the most warm w isli that the 
star-spangled banner of the United States 
may for ever be tloating, united and one, the 
proud ensign of mankind'' s divine origin; and, 
taking my ground on (/(/,■! principle of union, 
vjliich I find lawfully existing, an establislied 
constitutional fact, it is not to a party, but to 
the united people of the United States, that I 
contidently will address my humble requests 
for aid and protection to oppressed liumanity. I 
will conscientiously respect your laws, but 
within the limits of your laws, I will use 
every honest exertioa to gain your operative 
sympathy, and your financial, material and 
political' aid for my country's freedom and 
independence, and entreat the realization of 
these hopes which your generosity has raised 
in me and my people's breast.?, and also in the 
breasts of Europe's oppressed nations." * * * 

"As to your minister at Vienna, how can 
you combine the letting him stay there with 
yoilr opinion of the cause of Hungary, I 
really don't know ; but so much I know, "that 
the present absolutistieal atmosphere of Eu- 
rope is not very propitious to American prin- 
ciples. I know a man who could tell some 
curious facts about this matter. But as to Mr. 
Hulseinann, really I don't believe that he 
would be so ready to leave Washington. He 
has extremely well digested the caustic pills 
which Mr. Webster has administered to him 



80 gloriously." 
''^Having th 



ig thus expounded my aim, 1 beg 
leave to state, that I came not to your glorious 
shores to enjoy a happy rest — I came not with 
the intention to gather triumphs of personal 
distinction, but as a humble petitioner, in my 
country's name, as its freely chossn constitu- 
tional chief, humbly to entreat your generous aid ; 
and then it is to this aim that I will devote 
every moment of my time, with the more 
assiduity, the more restlessness, as every mo- 
ment may bring a report of events which 
may call me to hasten to my place on the 
battle field, where the great, and I hope the 
last battle tvili be fought between Liberty and Des- 
potism — a moment marked by the finder of 
God to be so near, that every hour of delay of 
your generous aid may prove fatally disas- 
trous to o/jpre.fscd /ii(?7!ant«j/-" # # # 

"Lafayette had great claims to your love 
and sympathy. But I have none. I came a 
humble petitioner, with no other claims than 
those which the oppressed have to the sympathy of 
free men, who have the power to help ; with 
the claim which the unfortunate has to the 
happy ; and the down-trodden has to the pro- 
tection of eternal justice and of hunum rights. 
In a word, 1 have no other claims than those 
ivhich the oppressed principle of freedom has to 
tite aid of victorious liberty. Then I would 
liumbly ask, are these claims sufticient to in- 
sure your generous protection, not to myself, 
but to the cause of my native land — not to 
my native land only, but to the principle of 



$200 Keward.— Ranaway from the subscri- 
ber, last November, a white (!) negro man, 
about 35 years old, height about 5 feet 8 or 10 
inches, blue eyes, has a yellow woolly head, 
very fair skill. He was lately known to be 
working on the railroad in Alabama, near 
Moore's Turn Out, and passed as a white man, 
by the name of Jesse Teams. I will give S.WO 
for sutlicient proof to convict, in ojjen court, 
any man who carried him away. 

J. 1). Allen. 

P. S. Said man has a good-shaped loot and 
leg, and his foot is very small and hollow. 

Barnwell Court House, L. C. 

Ten dollars reward for my woman Siby, 
very much scarred about the neck and ears 
by whipjiing. — [Mobile Commercial Adverti- 
ser. 

One hundred dollars reward for my negro 
Glasgow, and Kate, his wife. Glasgow is 24 
years old — has marks of the whip on his back. 
Kate is 26 — has a scar on her cheek, and sev- 
eral marks of a whip. — [Macon, Georgia, Mes- 
senger. 

Kanaway, Bill — has several large scars on 
his back from a severe whipping in early life. 
[Baltimore, Maryland, Republican. 

Kanaway, nesro fellow John — from being 
whi2jped, has scars on his back, arms, and 
thighs,— [Milledgeville, Georgia, Standard of 
Union. 

Committed to jail, a mulatto fellow— his 
back shows lasting impressions of the whip, 
and leaves no doubt of his being a slave. — 
[Fayetteville, Worth Carolina, Observer. 

Ranaway, the negro Manuel, much marked 
with irons. — [New Orleans, Louisiana, Bee. 

Kanaway, the iiegress Fanny — had on an 
iron band" about her neck.— [New Orleans 
Bee. 

Ranaway, a black woman, Betsey — had an 
iron bar on her right leg. — [Grand Gulf, Mis- 
sissippi, Advertiser. 

Kanaway, a negro man named David — with 
some iron hobbles around each ankle.— [Staun- 
ton, Virginia, Spectator. 

Ranaway, the negro Hown — has a ring of 
iron on his left foot. Also, Grise, his wife, 
having a ring and chain on the left leg. — 
[New Orleans Bee. 

Committed to jail, a man who calls his 
name John — he has a clog of iron on his right 
foot, which will weigh tour or five pounds. — 
[Montgomery, Alabama, Advertiser. 

Detained at the police jail, the negro wench 
Myra — has several marks of lashing, and lias 
irons on her feet.- [New Orleans paper. 

Was committed to jail, a negro boy— had 
on a large neck iron, with a huge pair of 
liorns, and a large bar or band of iron on his 
left leg. — [Memphis, Tennessee, Times. 

Ranaway, a negro boy about twelve years 
old— had round his neck a cliain dog-collar, 
with " De Yampert" engraved on it. — [Mo- 
bile, Alabama, Chronicle. 



14 



freedom in Europe's continent, of which the 
independence of tlungary is the indispensable 
keystone. If you consider these claims not 
sufficient to your active and operative sympa- 
thy, then let me know at once that the hopes 
have failed witli which Europe's oppressed 
nations have looked to your great, migiity and 
glorious republic — let me know at once the 
failure of our hopes, that I may hasten back 
and tell Europe's oppressed nations, ' Jjet us 
fight, forsaken and single-handed, the battle 
of Leonidas ; let us trust to God, to our right, 
and to our good sword ; there is no other help 
for the oppressed nations on earth.' But if 
your generous republican hearts are animated by 
the hi^h principle of freedom and of the 
solidarity in the destinies of humanity — if 
you have the will, as, to be sure, you have the 
power, to support the cause of freedom against 
the sacrilegious league of despotism, then give 
me some days of calm reflection to become 
acquainted with the ground upon which I 
stand — let me take the kind advice of some 
active friends on the most practical course I 
have to adopt — let me see if there be any pre- 
paratory steps taken in favor of that cause 
which 1 have the honor to represent; and 
then, let me have a new opportunity to ex- 
pound before you my humble request in a 
practical way ;" and let me add, with a sigh of 
thanksgiving to the Almighty God, that it is 
your glorious country which Providence has se- 
lected to be the pillar of freedom, as it is already 
the asylum to op2)ressed hu7nanity. 

" I am told that 1 will have the high honor 
to review your patriotic militia. O (jod ! how 
my heart throbs at the idea to see this gallant 
army enlisted on the side of freedom against des- 
potism; the world would be free, and you the 
saviours of humanity. Andwiiynot? These 
gallant men take part iu the mighty demon- 
stration of the day, proving that I was right 
when 1 said that now-a-days even the bayo- 
nets think. Citizens of New York, it is under 
your protection that I place the sacred cause of the 
freedom and independence of Hungary.'' * * 
" — [Reply to the Mayor's Address of Welco7ne at 
New York.] 

" I am aware that your war with Mexico was 
carried on chiefly by volunteers. . . It is a duty 
to confes.^, that those who fought in that war 
have high claims to an acknowledgment of 
their brilliant achievements . . I know what 
distinguished part the volunteers of New York 
took in that war — in the siege of Vera Cruz, in 
the battles of Cerro Gordo, iJontreras, Molino 
del Key, Cherubusco, and Chapultepec, and 
how they partook in the immense glory of 
entering — a handful of gallant men — the me- 
tropolis of Mexico." 

" History shows eminently this truth, that 

TOO ARE ENTITLED TO CALL YOURSELVES FREEMEN'. 

— [Reply to the Address of Citizens of New 
Hauen.] 

" I feel that to command the sympathy of 
generous minds is but to show the true posi- 
tion of Hungary, and the ground on which 
its future re.sts. By this attention, which has 
marked your address, and all other addresses 
received since 1 have arrived on these glorious 
shores of America, my work and my mission in 
this country will be greatly facilitated, be- 
cause it will not be necessary for me to try to 
explain my views, nor to persuade the people 
of the United States ; for they already uuder- 



Ranaway, a negro girl called Mary— has a 
small scar over her eye, a good many teeth 
missing ; the letter A is branded on her cheek 
and forehead. — [Natchez, Mississippi, Courier. 

Ranaway, Mary, a black woman— has a scar 
on her back and right arm near the shoulder, 
caused by a rifle ball.— [Natchez Courier. 

Twenty dollars reward — Ranaway from the 
subscriber, a negro girl named Molly — 16 or 
17 years of age, slimmade, lately branded on 
her left cheek, thus, R, and a piece taken off of 
her ear on the same side ; the same letter on 
the inside of both her legs.— [Charleston, S. 
C. Courier. 

" Twenty dollars reward — Ranaway from the 
subscriber, a negro woman and two children ; 
the woman is tall and black, and a few days 
before she went off, I burnt her with a hot 
iron on the left side of her face. I tried tA 
make the letter M— and she kept a cloth over 
her head and face, and a fly bonnet on her 
head, so as to cover the burn. — [North Caroli- 
na Standard, 

Ranaway, from the plantation of James 
Surgett, the following negroes: Randall — has 
one'ear cropjjed ; Bob — has lost one eye ; Ken- 
tucky Tom— has one jaw broken. — [Southern 
Telegraph. 

Stolen, a negro man named Winter — has a 
notch cut out of the left ear, and the marks of 
four or five buck shot ou his legs. — [Natchito- 
ches, Louisiana, Herald. 

Committed to jail, a negro named Mike — 
his left ear off.— [Natchez Free Trader. 

Ranaway Bill — has a scar over one eye, also 
one on his leg, from the bite of a dog — lias a 
burn on his buttock, from a piece of hot iron 
in the shape of T.— [New Orleans Bulletin. 

Ranaway, my slave Lewis — he has lost a 
piece of one ear, and a part of one of his fin- 
gers ; a part of one of his toes is also lost. — 
[Mobile Chronicle. 

Was committed to jail a negro man, says 
his name is Josiah — his back very much scar- 
red by the whip, and branded on the thigh 
and hips, in three or four places, thus (J. M.) 
— the rim of his right ear has been bit or cut 
ofl'. — [Clinton, Mississippi, Gazette. 

Ranaway a negro named Henry — his left 
eye out, some scars from a dirk on and under 
his left arm, and much scarred with the whip. 
[Lexington, Kentucky, Observer. 

Fifty dollars reward, for my fellow Edward 
— he has a scar on the corner ot his mouth, 
two cuts on and under his arm, and the letter 
E on his arm. — [Charleston, South Carolina, 
Courier. 

One hundred dollars reward will be paid to 
any person who may apprehend and safely 
confine in any jail in this State, a certain ne- 
gro man, named Alfred. And the Siiinc re- 
ward will be paid, if satisfactory evidence is 
given of his having been KILLED. He has 
one or more scars on one of his hands, caused 
by his having been shot.— [WilmingtOH, North 
Carolina, Advertiser. 



15 



stand it, and they are already persuaded that my 
cause 7>ierits their sympathy and support; and 
they are convinced, becaflse they have paid 
attention to tlie views, hopes, and aims oi my 
nation." * * # # 

" I come here with the humble prayers of 
Hungary and my own, seeking for sympathy 
and aid, not to one party, but to the whole 
people of the United States. When I see the 
whole people of this great confederacy — not of one 
party, but of all parties — coming forward to 
stretch out a friendly hand to my poor country, 
I put my trust in the God of mercy and jus- 
tice, that he will ere long set Hungary free, 
and place her in the position she ought to 
hold in the scale of nations. It will be suf- 
licient reward for me, even at the sacrifice of 
my life, if my efforts, aided by the generosity 
of your nation, shall contribute to the re- 
demption of my country, and the develop- 
ment of all those moral and material facul- 
ties which are necessary to the welfare of 
every nation." — [Reply to the Address of a Com- 
tnittee of the American and Foreign Anti- Slavery 
Society.] 

'■' I wish the free women of free America 
will help my down-trodden land to get out of 
tiiat iron grasp, or to get out of those bloody 
langs, and become independent and free. 
* * * Hut I have a stronger motive 
than all these to claim your protecting sym- 
pathy for my country's cause. It is her 
nameless woes, nameless sufferings. In the 
name of that ocean of bloody tears which the 
sacrilegious hand of the tyrant wrung from 
the eyes of the childless mothers, of the 
brides who beheld the hangman's sword be- 
tween them and their wedding day— in the 
name of all those mothers, wives, brides, 
daughters and sisters, who, by thousands of 
thousands, weep over the graves of Magyars 
so dear to their hearts, and weep the bloody 
tears of a patriot (as they all are) over the 
face of their beloved native land— in the 
name of all those torturing stripes with 
which the flogging hand of Austrian tyrants 
dared to outrage humanity in the womankind 
of ray native land— in the name of that daily 
curse against Austria with which even the 
prayers of our women are mixed — in the 
name of the nameless sufferings of my own 
dear wife, (here the whole audience rose and 
cheered vehemently,)— the faithful companion 
of my life — of her who for mouths and for 
months was hunted by my country's tyrants, 
like a noble deer, not having, for months, a 
moment's rest to repose her wearied head in 
safety, and no hope, no support, no protection 
but at the humble threshold of the hard- 
working people, as noble and generous as 
they are poor — (applause)— in the name of my 
poor little children, who so young are scarce- 
ly conscious of their life, had already to learn 
what an Austrian prison is— in the name of all 
this, and what is still worse, in the name of 
down-trodden liberty, I claim, ladies of Kew 
York, your protecting sympathy for my 
country's cause. Kobody can do more for it 
than you. The heart of man is as soft wax in 
your tender hands. Mould it, ladies ; mould 
it into tiie form of generous compassion for 
my country's wrongs, inspire it with the 
noble feelings of your own hearts, inspire it 
with the consciou.sness of your country's 
power, dignity and might." * * # 
" All tliis power you luu e. Use it, ladies, use 
it in behalf of your country's glory, ana for 
the benefit of oppressed humaaity ; and when 



Ranaway, my negro man Richard. A re- 
ward of $25 will be paid for his apprehension, 
DEAD OR ALIVE. Satisfactory proof will only 
be required of his being KILLED.— [Same 
paper. 

Three hundred dollars reward — Ranaway 
from the subscriber in November last, his two 
negro men, named Billy and Tompey. Billy 
in all probability mav resist ; in that event, 
$50 will be paid for UlS HEAD.— [Charles- 
ton Courier. 

Two hundred dollars reward— Ranaway 
from the subscriber, a certain negro named 
Ben; he had but one eye. Also, one other 
negro, by the name of Rigdon. I will give 
the reward of $100 for each of the above ne- 
groes, to be delivered to me, or contined in 
the jail of Lenori or Jones county, or for the 
KILLING of them, so that I can see them. — 
[Nevvbern. North Carolina, Spectator. 

From the Wilmington, N. C. Journal. 
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

WHEREAS, complaint upon oath hath this 
day been made to us, two of the Justices of the 
Peace for the State and county aforesaid, by 
Guildford Horn, of Edgecombe County, that a 
certain male slave belonging to him, named 
HARRY, a carpenter by trade, about 40 years 
old, 5 feet 5 inches high, or thereabouts, yel- 
low complexion, stout built, with a scar on his 
left leg, (from the cut of an axe,) has very thick 
lips, eyes deep sunk in his head, forehead verv 
square, tolerably loud voice, has lost one or two 
of his upper teeth, and has a very dark spot on 
his jaw, supposed to bea mark- hath absented 
himself from his master's service, and is sup- 
posed to be lurking about in this county, com- 
mitting acts of felony or other misdeeds : 
These are, therefore, in the name of the State 
aforesaid, to command said slave forthwith to 
surrender himself, and return home to his said 
ma.ster ; and we do hereby, by virtue of the 
Act of Assembly in such cases made and pro- 
vided, intimate and declare that if said slave 
Harry doth not surrendei himself, and return 
home immediately after the publication of 
these presents, that any person or persons may 
KILL and DESTROY the said slave by such means 
as he or they may think )it, without accusation 
or impeachment of any crime or offence for so 
doing, and without incurring any penalty or 
forfeiture thereby. 

Given under our hands and seals, this 29th 
day of June, 1850. 

James T. Miller, J. P. [Seal.] 
W. C. Betiencout, J. P. [Seal.] 

Oye HUXDRED AND TwEXTT-FIVE DOLLARS RE- 
WARD will be paid for the delivery of the said 
HARRY to me at Tonsott Depot, 'Edgecombe 
county, or for his continement in any jail in 
the State, so that I can get him ; or One Hun- 
dred and Fifty Dollars will be given for his 

HEAD. 

He was lately heard from in Newbern. whene 
he called himself Henry Barnes (or Burns,) 
and will be likelj^ to continue the same name 
or assume that of Coppage or Farmer. He has 
a free mulatto woman for a wife, by the name 
of Sally Bozeman, who has lately removed to 
Wilmington, and lives in that part of the town 
called Texas, where he will likely be lurk- 
ing. 

Masters of vessels are particularly cautioned 
against harboring or concealing said negro ou 



16 



you meet a cold calculator, who thinks by- 
arithmetic when he is called to feel the wrongs 
of oppressed nations, convert hira, ladies." — 
[Address to the Ladies of New York in Tripler 
Hall.] 

" I am sure that the sympathy of Baltimore (!) 
will be such as to respect the cause of Hun- 
gary, for the people and the authorities act in 
perfect harmony togetlier in this free coun- 
try. . . I am not egoti-stical for myself, but for 
the great principles of liberty, which makes 
your country so great, so glorious, and so free, 
and also the land of protection for the perse- 
cuted SONS OF freedom among the great brother- 
hood of nations." 

"As to your glorious Constitution. . . Never 
forget to love it. . . Your glorious country. . . 
The glorious republic of the United States. . . 
Great, glorious and free. . . Let not the enemies 
of freedomgrow toostrong(!l). . . Absolutism 
cannot tranquilly sleep while the Kepublicau 
principle has such a mighty representative as 
your country is (II!). . . The United States of 
America is a great, glorious and free country, 
under Kepublican government . . 1 believe 
your glorious country should every where un- 
i'url the star-spangled banner of liberty. . . 
The United States number many millions of 
inhabitants, all attached with warm feelings 
to the principles of liberty. . . You took me 
for the representative of that principle of liber- 
ty which God has destined to become the com- 
mon benelit of liumanity ; and it is a glorious 
sight to see a mighty, free, powerful people 
come forth to greet with such a welcome the 
principle of freedom, even in a poor, perse- 
cuted, penniless exile. . . Through all poster- 
ity, oppressed men will look to your memory 
as a token of God, that there is a hope for free- 
dom on earth, because there is a people like 
you (!!) to feel its worth and to support its 
cause. . . Europe has many things to learn 
from America: it has to learn the value of free 
institutions, and the expansive power of free- 
dom." 

" Happy art thou, free nation of America, 
that thou hast founded thy house upon the 
only solid basis of a nation's liberty! Thou 
hast no tyrants among thee, to tlirow the ap- 
ple of Eros in thy Union. Thou hast no tyrants 
among thee, to raise the fury of hatred in thy 
national family — hatred of nations, that curse 
of humanity, that venomous instrument of 
despotism." 

"A tempest-tossed life has somewhat sharp- 
ened tl'.e eyes of my soul : and had it not even 
done so, still I would dare say, I know how to 
read your people's heart. It is so easy to read 
it, because it is open, like nature, and unpollu- 
ted, (!) like a virgin's heart (!!) May others 
shut their ears to Ihe cry of oppressed human- 
ity, because they regard duties but through the 
glass of jietty interests. Your jieople has that 
instinct of justice and generosity (!) which is 
the stamp oi mankind's heavenly origin : and 
it is conscious of your country's power ; it is 
jealous of its own dignity ; it knows that it has 
the power to restore the lavv of nations to the 
principles of Justice and right ; and knowing 
itself to have the power, it is willing to be as 
good as its power is great." (!) 

I am here on the free ground of free 
America (!) . . 



board their vessels, a.? the full penalty of the 
law will be rigorously enforced. 

Guilford Horn. 
June 29th, 1850. 

Ten silver dollars reward will be paid for ap- 
prehending and delivering to me my nuin 
Moses, who ran away this morning ; or I will 
give_^fc times the sum to any person who will 
make due proof of his being KILLED, and 
never ask a question to know by whom it is 
done. 

W. Skinneb, 
Clerk of the County of Perquinotis, N. C. 

About the 1st of 3Iarch last, the negro man 
Kansom left me without the least provocation 
whatever I will give a reward of twenty dol- 
lars for said negro, if taken de.\d or alfve ; and 
if KILLED in any attempt, an advance of five 
dollars iviU be paid. 

Bryant Johnson, 
Crauford County, Georgia. 

From the Sumpter County (Alabama) Whig. 
Negro Dogs. — The undersigned, having 
bought the entire pack of negro dogs, (of the 
Hay & Allen stock,) he now proposes to catch 
runaway negroes. His charges will be $3 a 
day for hunting, and S*15 for catching, north 
of Livingston, near the lower Jones' BluiT 
road. 

William Gambrel. 
Not. 6, 1845. 

From the, Madison (Louisiana) Journal. 

Notice. — The subscriber, living on C'arroway 
Lake, on Hoe's Bayou, in Carroll I'arish, six- 
teen miles on the road leading from Bayou 
Mason to Lake Providence, is ready with a 
pack of dogs to hunt runaway negroes at any 
time. These dogs are well trained, and are 
known throughout the parish. Letters ad- 
dressed to me at Brovidence will .secure im- 
mediate attention. My terms are S5 per day 
for hunting the trails, whether the negro is 
caught or not. Where a twelve hours' trail is 
shown, and the negro not taken, no charge is 
made. For taking a negro, S25, and no charge 
made for hunting. 

James W. HAir.. 

Nov. 26, 1847. 

[Cy^ A negro woman, belonging to William 
Woods, Esq., of Clay county, Missouri, re- 
cently destroyed her three children, the old- 
est eight years of age, by drowning them in a 
creek. She afterwards told a negro man what 
she had done, and where they might be found, 
and then went and drowned herself The 
children were found laid out, and protected 
by some boughs to shade their faces. 

Negroes for Sale. — I have again returned 
to this market, with eighteen or twenty likely 
negroes. I have located on the co'tier of 
Main and Adam streets. I have plough-boys, 
men, women, and girls, and some very fancy 
ones. I intend to keep a constant supply 
through the season, and will not be undersold 
by any in the market. My motto is, " the 
swift penny ; the slow shilling " I never get. 
I will also pay the highest cash price for 
young negroes. 

W. H. Bolton. 

Nov. 21,1846. 



17 ■ 

Let an astonished world peruse, and reperuso, these extravagant and 
unqualified eulogiums upon this country from your lips, as " the land ot 
protection for the persecuted sons of free lorn," " the glorious republic 
of the United States," whose " millions of inhabitan.3 are all attached 
with warm feelings to the principles of liberty," with "no tyrants 
among them," having " the instinct of justice and generosity," as " wil- 
ling to be as good as their power is great," " the brilliancy of whose 
stars is greeted by Europe's oppressed nations as the morning star of 
rising liberty," whose "star-spangled banner is the proud ensign of 
mankind's divine origin," whose " glorious country Providence has 
selected to be the pillar of freedom, as it is already the asylum to 
oppressed humanity," " from which the spirit of liberty has not only 
spiritually but materially to go forth, in order that it may achieve the 
freedom of the world," dsc. &c. ; and then read the blood-congealing, 
soul-harrowing facts which are embodied in a parallel column, respect- 
ing the condition, liabilities and sufferings of more than three millions of 
the American population — stripped of every right — having nothing that 
they can call their own, except the capacity to suffer — constantly 
bought and sold, in lots to suit purchasers, with cattle and swine — lacer- 
ated, scarred, branded, mutilated — if fugitives, hunted with bloodhounds, 
shot down with rifles, in some instances a premium offered for killing 
them, instead of returning them alive — with the eyes of their souls 
bored out — under laws making it felony to teach them how to spell the 
name of God, or to read Christ's Sermon on the Mount ; — and then 
record its verdict as to your language, conduct and mission among us ! 
Must not that verdict be — " Guilty of flattery and dissimulation ! 
Guilty of falsehood, and recreancy to principle ! Guilty of striking 
hands with thieves, and consenting with adulterers ! Guilty of compro- 
mising honor, justice, humanity, liberty ! " Sir, dare you, after this 
exposure, repeat the solemn declaration, made by you at New York — 
" Humble as I am, God, the Almighty, has selected me to represent the 
cause of humanity before you ! My warrant to this capacity is written 
in the sympathy and confidence of all who are oppressed ! " He whom 
God qualifies and sends forth to testify against tyranny is faithful in the 
discharge of his mission ; and, surely, Divine Wisdom is never so infat- 
uated as to send him to a nation of slave-catchers and human flesh- 
mongers, to extol it as " the asylum of the oppressed of all nations." 
If you were a true witness for God, instead of suppressing the truth or 
dealing in flattery, you would be commissioned in this wise : — " Son of 
man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that 
3 



18 

hath rebelled against me : they and their fathers have transgressed 
against me, even unto this very day : for they are impudent and hard- 
hearted. I do send thee unto them ; and thou shalt say unto them, 
Thus saith the Lord God. And they, whether they will hear, or 
whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall 

KNOW THAT THERE HATH BEEN A PROPHET AMONG THEM. And thoU, 

son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, 
though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among 
scorpions. Hear what I say unto thee : Be not thou rebellious, like that 
rebellious house." [See Ezekiel, 2d chap.] If you were the heaven- 
inspired messenger you assume to be, you would imitate the example of 
another ancient prophet, who claimed for himself, " Truly, I am full of 
power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might," — and 
who, in proof of the validity of this claim, spoke in the following 
terms : — " Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the 
house of Israel : Is it not for you to know judgment > Who hate the 
good, and love the evil ; who pluck off their skin from off them, and 
their flesh from off their bones ; who also eat the flesh of my people, 
and flay their skin from off" them ; and they break their bones, and 
chop them in pieces, (1) as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron ; 

(1) To show what it is in the power of every slaveholder to do with impunity, aHd how 
literal is the language of the prophet as applied to Southern slaveholding atrocities, read the 
following authentic narrative from the pen of the Eev. Willum Dickey, a man of undoubted 
veracity, who was well acquainted with the circumstances he describes : — 

" In the county of Livingston, Ky., near the mouth of Cumberland, lived Lilburn Lewis, a 
sister's son of the venerable Jefferson. He, 'who suckled at fair Freedom's breast,' was the 
wealthy owner of a considerable number of slaves, whom he drove constantly, fed sparingly, 
and lashed severely. The consequence was, they vrould run away. This must have given, to 
a man of spirit and a man of business, great anxieties until he found them, or until they had 
starved out, and returned. Among the rest was an ill grown boy about seventeen, who, 
having just returned from a skulking spell, was sent to the spring for water, and in returning 
let fall an elegant pitcher. It was dashed to shivers upon the rocks. This was the occasion. 
It was night, and the slaves all at home. The master had them collected into the most roomy 
negro-house, and a rousing fire made. "When the door was secured, that none might escape, 
either through fear of him or sympathy with George, he opened the design of the interview, 
namely, that they might be effectually taught to stay at home and obey his orders. All things 
being now in train, he called up George, who approached his master with the most unreserved 
submission. He bound him with cords, and by the assistance of his younger brother, laid 
him on a broad bench or meat block. He now proceeded to chop off George by the ankles ! 
It was with the broad axe ! In vain did the unhappy victim scream and roar 1 He was com- 
pletely in his master's power. Not a hand amongst so many durst interfere. Casting the feet 
into the lire, he lectured them at some length. He chopped him off below the knees ! George 
roaring out, and praying his master to begin at the other end ! He admonished them again, 
throwing the legs into the fire ! Then above the knees, tossing the joints into the fire ! He 
again lectured them at leisure. The next stroke severed the thighs from the body. These 
were also committed to the flames. And so off the arms, head and trunk, until all was in the 
fire ! Still protracting the intervals with lectures, and threatenings of like punishment, in 
case of disobedience, and running away, or disclosure of this tragedy. Nothing now re- 
mained but to consume the flesh and bones ; and for this purpose, the fire was briskly stirred, 
until two hours after midnight; when, as though the earth would cover out of sight the 
nefarious scene, and as though the great Master in heaven would put a mark of his dis- 
pleasure upon such monstrous cruelty, a sudden and surprising shock of earthquake over- 
turned the coarse and heavy back wall, composed of rock and clay, which completely covered 
the fire, and the remains of George. This put an end to the amusements of the evening. The 
negroes were now permitted to disperse, with charges to keep this matter among themselves, 
and never to whisper it in the neighborhood, under the penalty of a like punishment. When 



19 

who abhor judgment and pervet all equity ; who build up Zion with 
blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity; (1) yet who lean upon the Lord, 
and say. Is not the Lord among us ? none evil can come upon us." 
[Micah, 2d chap.] 

Instead of being thus true and faithful to this nation, — in comparison 
with whose turpitude, that of the ancient Jews whitens into virtue, — 

he retired, the lady exclaimed, ' O '■ Mr. Lewis, where have you been, and what have you 
done!' She had lieard a strange pounding, and dreadful screams, and had .^melled some- 
thing like fresh meat burning! He said that he had never enjoyed himself at a ball so well 
as he had enjoved himself that evening. 

" Sure there "are bolts, red with no common wrath, to blast the man. 

" Bloomingsburg, Oct. 8, 1824. M^illiam Dickey." 

(1) In proof that this is not only figuratively but literally true in this country, read the fol- 
lowing statement of the Kev. J. Cable, made before the General Assembly of the Presby- 
terian Church : — 

" "What shocked me more than any thing else was, the church engaged in this jobbing of 
slaves. The college church which I attended, and which was attended by all the students of 
Hamden Sydney College and Union Theological Seminary, held slaves enough to pay their 
pastor, Mr. Stanton, one thocsand dollvrs a year, of which the church members did not pay 
a cent, (so 1 understood it.) The slaves, who had been left to the church by some pious 
mother in Israel, had increased so as to be a large and still increasing fund. These were 
hired out on Christmas day of each year, the day in which they celebrate the birth of our 
blessed Saviour, to the highest bidder. 

"There are four other churches near the College Church, that were in the same situation 
with this, when I was in that country, that supported the pastor, in whole or in part, in the 
same way, viz.: Cumberland Church, John Kirkpatrick, pastor; Briny Church, William 
Plummer, pastor, (since Dr. P. of Richmond;) Butfalo Church, Mr. Cochran, pastor ; Pisga 
Church, near the peaks of Otter, J. Mitchell, pastor." 

The following advertisement is from the Charleston, S. C, Courier, of Feb. 12, 1832 :— 

"field negroes. 
" By Thomas Gadsden. On Tuesday, the 17th inst.; will be sold, at the North of the Ex- 
change, at 10 o'clock, A. M., a prime gang of 

TEN NEGROES, 

accustomed to the culture of cotton and provisions, belonging to the Independent Church, in 
Christ's Church Parish. 
"Feb. 6th." 

In 1833, the Rev. Dr. Furman, of South Carolina, addressed a lengthy communication to 
the Governor of that State, expressing the sentiments of the Baptist Church and clergy on 
the subject of slavery. This brief extract contains the essence of the whole :— 

" The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept 
and example." 

Not long after, Dr. Furman died. His legal representatives thus advertised his property :— 

" notice. 

" On the first Monday of February next, will be put up at public auction, before the court 
house, the foUoivins property J belonging to the estate of the late Rev. Dr. Furman, viz. : — 

" A plantation or tract of land, on and in the "Wataree Swamp. A tract of the first quality; 
of fine land, on the waters of Black River. A lot of land in the town of Camden. A Libba- 
KY of a miscellaneous character, chiefly TnEOLOGicAL. 

27 NEGROES, 

Eome of them very prime. Two mules, one horse, and an old wagon." 

The Savannah, Ga., Republican of the 13th of March, 1845, contains an advertisement, one 
item of which is as follows : — 

" Also, at the same time and place, the following negro slaves, to wit : Charles, Peggy, An- 
tonnette, Davy, September, Maria, Jenny, and Isaac— levied on as the property of Henry T. 
Hall, to satisfy a mortgage fi. fla. issued out of Mcintosh Superior Court, in favor of the 
Board of Directors of the Tkrolo^ical Seminary of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, vs. 
said Henry T. Hall. Conditions, cash. 

" C. O'NEAL, 
" Deputy Sheriff, M. C." 



20 

your powers of speech are tasked in framing compliments and pane- 
gyrics. Whether at New York, Baltimore, or Washington, — whether 
on soil nominally free, as in Pennsylvania, or on soil saturated with the 
blood of its slave population, as in Maryland, — your praise of the gov- 
ernment and people, the institutions and laws of the United States, con- 
tinues indiscriminate and unmeasured. In one of your speeches in 
England, you said — " I meet, in certain quarters, the remark that I am 
slippery, and evade the question. Now, on the point of sincerity, I am 
particularly susceptible. I have the sentiment of being a plain, honest 
man, and I would not be charged with having entered by stealth into the 
sympathies of England, without displaying my true colors." Sir, is it 
the part of " a plain, honest man " to pursue a course so tortuous as 
this ? Has there been nothing " slippery " in your conduct, no studied 
avoidance of the subject, no concealment of your real feelings and sen- 
timents, in regard to our colossal slave system ? Are you not seeking 
to "enter by stealth into the sympathies of" America, so as to secure 
her co-operation in aid of Hungary, by pandering to her vanity, and 
holding her up to the world not only as without blemish, but as radiant 
with beauty and covered with glory > 

In striking contrast with your exalted estimate of this slaveholding 
republic was the view taken of it by the great champion of Irish liber- 
ation, and the outspoken opponent of tyranny in every quarter of the 
globe, the late Daniel O'Connell ! Read the following extracts from 
his numerous speeches, extending over a period of twenty years : — 

I now come to America, the boasted land of freedom ; and here I find 
slavery, which they not only tolerate, but extend, justified and defended as a 
legacy left them by us. It is but too true. But I would say unto them, you 
threw off" the allegiance you owed us, because you thought we were oppress- 
ing you with the Stamp Act. You boasted of your deliverance from slavery. 
On what principle, then, do you now continue your fellow-men in bondage, and 
render that bondage even more galling by ringing in the ears of the sufferers 
from your tyranny, what you have done, Avhat you have suffered, for freedom .' 
They may retaliate upon us. They may reply by allusions to tlie slaveries we 
have established or encouraged. But what would be thought of that man who 
should attempt to justify the crime of sheep-stealing, by alleging that another 
stole sheep too ? Would such a defence be listened to ? Oh, no ; and I will 
say unto you, freemen of America, and the press will convey it to you almost 
as swift as the wind, that God understands you ; that you are hypocrites, 
TTRANTS, AND UNJUST MEN ; that you are DEGRADED AND DISHONORED ; and 
I say unto you, dare not to stand up boasting of your freedom or your privile- 
ges, while you continue to treat men, redeemed by the same blood, as the 
mere creatures of your will ; for so long as you do so, there is a blot on your 

escutcheon which all the waters of the Atlantic cannot wash out.' 

# # # * # 

Of all men living, an American citizen, who is the owner of slaves, is the 
most despicable ; he is a political hypocrite of the very worst description. 



21 

The friends of humanity and liberty, in Europe, should join in one universal cry 
of shame on the American slaveholders ! ' Base wretches,' should we shout in 
chorus — ' base wretches, how dare you profane the temple of national free- 
dom, the sacred fane of republican rites, with the presence and the sufferings 
of human beings in chains and slavery?' — [Speech delivered at an Anti- 
Slavery meeting in 1829, 

I speak of liberty in commendation. Patriotism is a virtue, but it can be 
selfish. Give me the great and immortal Bolivar, the saviour and regenerator 
of his country. He found her a province, and he has made her a nation. His 
first act was to give freedom to the slaves upon his own estate. (Hear, 
hear.) In Colombia, all castes and all colors are free and unshackled. But 
how I like to contrast him with the far-famed northern heroes ! George 
Washington! that great and enlightened character, — the soldier and the 
statesman, — had but one blot upon his character. He had slaves, and he gave 
them liberty when he wanted them no longer. (Loud cheers.) Let America, 
in the fullness of her pride, wave on high her banner of freedom and its blazing 
stars. I point to her, and say, There is one foul blot upon it ; you have negro 
slavery. They may compare their struggles for freedom to Marathon and 
Leuctra, and point to the rifleman with his gun, amidst her woods and forests, 
shouting for liberty and America. In the midst of their laughter and their 
pride, 1 point them to the negro children screaming for the mother from whose 
bosom they have been torn. America, it is a foul stain upon your character! 
(Cheers.) This conduct, kept up by men who had themselves to struggle for 
freedom, is doubly unjust. Let them hoist the flag of liberty, with the whip 
and rack on one side, and the star of freedom upon the other. The Americans 
are a sensitive people ; in fifty-four years they have increased their population 
from three millions to twenty millions ; they have many glories that surround 
them, but their beams are partly shorn, for they have slaves. (Cheers.) Their 

hearts do not beat so strong for liberty as mine I will call for justice, 

in the name of the living God, and I shall find an echo in the breast of every 
human being. (Cheers.) — [Speech delivered at the annual meeting of the 
Cork Anti-Slavery Society, 1829. 

Ireland and Irishmen should he foremost in seeking to effect the emancipation 

of mankind. (Cheers.) The Americans alleged that they had not 

perpetrated the crime, but inherited it from England. This, however, fact as 
it was, was still a paltry apology for America, who, asserting liberty for herself, 
still used the brand and the lash against others. (Hear.) He taunted America 
with the continuance of slavery ; and the voice Avith which he there uttered 
the taunt would be wafted on the wings of the press, until it would be heard 
in the remote wilds of America ; it would be wafted over the waters of the 
Missouri and those of the Mississippi ; and even the slaves upon the distant 
banks of the Ohio would make his words resound in the ears of their heartless 
masters, and tell them to their face, that they were the victims of cruelty, 
injustice, and foul oppression. (Cheers.) Bright as was the page of American 
history, and brilliant as was the emblazonment of her deeds, still, negro slavery 
was a black, a 'damning spot' upon it. Glorious and splendid as was the 
star-spangled banner of republican America, still it was stained with the deep, 
foul blot of human blood. — [Speech delivered at a meeting of the Dublin 
Anti-Slavery Society, 1830. 

Man cannot have property in man. Slavery is a nuisance, to be put down, 
not to be compromised ivilh ; and to be assailed without cessation and without 
mercy by every blow that can be levelled at the monster Let general 



22 

principles be asserted. And as it is tlie cause of religion and liberty, all that 
is wanted is the unwearied repetition of zealous advocacy to make it cer- 
tainly triumphant. Let every man, then, in whatever position he may be placed, 
do his duty in crushing that hideous tyranny, which rends the husband from 
the wife, the children from their parents ; which enables one human being, at 
his uncontrolled will, to apply the lash to the back of his fellow-man. — [Speech 
delivered at the London Anti-Slavery Society, 1830. 

We are responsible for what we do, and also for the influence of our exam- 
ple. Think you that the United States of America would be able to hold up 
their heads among the nations, — the United States, who shook off their alle- 
giance to their sovereign, and declared that it was the right of evenj man to 
enjoy freedom — of every man, whether black, white, or red ; who made this 
declaration before the God of armies, and then, when they had succeeded in 
their enterprise, forgot their vow, and made slaves, and used the lash and the 
chain, — would they dare to take their place among the nations, if it were not 
that England countenances them in the practice ? — [Speech delivered at the 
General Meeting of the British Anti-Slavery Society, 1831. 

My claim to be heard at all on this occasion is included in one sentence — 
I am an abolitionist. (Cheering.) I am for speedy, immediate abolition. 
(Renewed cheers.) I care not wliat caste, creed, or color, slavery may assume. 
I am for its total, its instant abolition. Whether it be personal or political, 
mental or corporeal, intellectual or spiritual, I am for its immediate abolition. 
(Great applause.) I enter into no compromise ivith slavery, I am for justice, in 
the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. 

^ 75 ^ tF tF 

The time has now come, ivhen every man ivho has honest feelings should declare 
himself the advocate of abolition. He who consents to tolerate crime is a crimi- 
nal ; and never will I lose the slightest opportunity, whether here or in the 
legislature, or any where else, to raise my voice for liberty, — for the extinc- 
tion OF SLAVERY. (Great applause.) Humanity, justice and religion com- 
bine to call upon us to abolish this foul blot. But it is not England or Britain 
alone that is stained with this crime. The democratic republic of America 
shares in the guilt. Oh I the inconsistency of these apostles of liberty talking 
of freedom, while they basely and wickedly continue the slavery of their fellow- 
men, the negroes of Africa! A republican is naturally proud and high- 
minded, and we may make the pride of the North American republicans the 
very weapon by which to break down slavery ; for, if the example of England 
were gone, they could not, in the face of the world, continue the odious and 
atrocious system one moment longer. (Cheers.) Abolish it throughout the 

British colonies, and away it goes in America. (Renewed cheers.) 

# * # * * 

Slavery is a crime, a high crime against Heaven, and its annihilation ought 
not to be postponed. We have lately heard a good deal of the iniquity of the 
East India Company getting money from the poor, infatuated wretches who 
throw themselves beneath the wheel of Juggernaut's car. This is lamentable 
indeed ; but what care I, whether the instrument of torture be a wheel or a 
lash? (Applause.) I am against Juggernaut, both in the East Indies and 
West Indies, and am determined, therefore, not to assist in perpetuating slav- 
ery. Is it possible, that where humanity, benevolence and religion are com- 
bined, there can be doubt of success ? The priests of Juggernaut are respect- 
able persons compared with those who oppose such a combination (applause ;) 
and I entreat you to assist in the great work by becoming its apostles. — [Speech 
delivered before the London Anti-Slavery Society, 1831. 



23 

I will now go to America. I have often longed to go there, in reality; but, 
so long as it is tarnished by slavery, I will never pollute my foot hy treading on its 
shores. (Cheers.) In the course of my Parliamentary duty, a few days ago, I 
had to arraign the conduct of the despot of the North, for his cruelty to the 
men, women and children of Poland ; and I spoke of him with the execration 
he merits. But, I confess, that although I hate him with as much hatred as 
one Christian man can hate another human being, viz: I detest his actions with 
abhorrence, unutterable and indescribable ; yet there is a climax in my hatred. 
I would adopt the language of the poet, but reverse the imagery, and say, 

' In the deepest hell, there is a depth still more profound,' 

and that is to be found in the conduct of the American slave owners. (Cheers.) 
They are the basest of the base — the most execrable of the execrable. I thank 
God that upon the wings of the press, the voice of so humble an individual as 
myself will pass against the western breeze — that it will reach the rivers, the 
lakes, the mountains, and the glens of America — and that the friends of liberty 
there will sympathize with me, and rejoice that I here tear down the image of 
liberty from the recreant hand of America, and condemn her as the vilest of hypo- 
crites — the greatest of liars. (Long continued cheers.) 

When this country most unjustly and tyrannically oppressed its colonies, 
and insisted that a Parliament of borough-mongers in Westminster should 
have the power of putting their long fingers across the Atlantic into the pock- 
ets of the Americans, taking out as much as they pleased, and, if they found 
anything, leaving what residuum they chose — America turned round, and ap- 
pealed to Justice, and she was right ; appealed to Humanity, and she was 
right ; appealed to her own brave sword, and she was right, and I glory in it. 
At that awful period, when America was exciting all the nations of the world ; 
when she was declaring her independence, and her inhabitants pledged their 
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, and invoked the God of charity 
(whom they foolishly called the God of battles, which he is not, any more than 
he is the God of murder) — at this awful period when they laid the foundation 
of their liberty, they began with these words : ' We hold these truths to be self- 
evident : that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain inalienable rights ; that amongst these are life, LIBERTY, and the 
pursuit of happiness.'' Thus the American has acknowledged what he cannot 
deny, viz. that God the Creator has endowed men with those things as inalien- 
able rights. But it is not the white man, it is not the copper-colored man, nor 
is it the black man alone, who is thus endowed ; but it is all men who are pos- 
sessed of these inalienable rights. The man, however, who cannot vote in any 
State assembly without admitting this as the foundation of his liberty, has the 
atrocious injustice, the murderous injustice, to trample upon these inalienable 
rights ; as it were, to attempt to rob the Creator of his gifts, and to appropriate 
to himself his brother man, as if he could be his slave. (Cheers.) Shame be 
upon America ! eternal shame be upon her escutcheon ! (Loud cheers.) 

Shortly there will not be a slave in the British colonies. Five lines in an 
Act of Parliament, the other night, liberated nearly 500,000 slaves in the East 
Indies, at a single blow. The West Indians will be obliged to grant emanci- 
pation, in spite of the paltry attempts to prevent it; and then we will turn to 
America, and to every part of Europe, and require emancipation. (Cheers.) 
No ! they must not think that they can boast of their republican institutions — 
that they can talk of their strength and their glory. Unless they abolish sla- 
very, they must write themselves down LIARS, or call a general convention 
of the States, and blot out the first sentence of their Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, and write in its place, ' Liberty in America means the power to flog slaves, 
and to work them for nothing.^ (Loud applause.) * * * * 



24 

The voice of Europe will proclaim the slave's deliverance, and will say to 
him, " Shed no blood, but take care that your blood be not shed." 
/ tell the ^Imerican slave owner, that he shall not have silence ; for, humble 
as I am, and feeble as my voice may be, yet deafening the sound of the wes- 
terly T-ave, and riding against the blast as thunder goes, it shall reach Ameri- 
ca, telling the black man that the time for his emancipation is come, and the 
oppressor that the period of his injustice is soon to terminate ! (Cheers.) — 
[Speech delivered at the Great Anti-Colonization Meeting in London, 1833. 

Mr. O'Connell presented himself to the meeting, amid the most enthusiastic 
cheers. After some remarks of a general nature, the Hon. and learned gentle- 
man proceeded to speak in terms of severe censure of the conduct of the Amer- 
icans, in continuing to keep in bondage the black population in many of their 
States. He did not wonder at the death plagues of New Orleans, or the de- 
vastation of its people, many of whom enjoyed health and vigor at morn, and 
were lifeless at noon, when they had committed or countenanced crimes ivhich 
could only he registered with the annals of JYicholas and the curses of Poland. 

The Hon. and learned gentleman read several extracts from an American 
slaveholding Act, in which it was enjoined that no judge, legislative member, 
barrister or preacher, should speak or write anything against slavery, under the 
pain of being sentenced to not less than three years, and not more than twen- 
ty-one years imprisonment, or death at the discretion of the court! ! ! And that 
no American should teach a slave to read or write, under pain of not less than 
three months, and not more than twelve months imprisonment. (Hear, hear.) 
The Hon. and learned gentleman flung this black dishonor on the star-span- 
gled banner of America — in vain did it wave over every sea, proclaiming the 
honor of the boasted republic of modern times — those who fought under it were 
felons to the human race, (Hear, hear,) traitors to liberty, to their own honor, and 
blasphemers of the Almighty. ' The red arm of God,' continued the Hon. and 
learned gentleman, 'is bared; and let the enemies of those whom his Son died 
to save, the black man as well as the white man, beware of its vengeance ! 
The lightning careers through the troubled air resistless, amidst the howling 
of the tempest and rolling of the thunder. O for one moment of poetic inspi- 
ration, that my words, with the fire of indignation with which my bosom burns, 
that my voice might be borne on the western breeze across the wide Atlantic, 
light on their shores and their mountains, and be Avafted down the rivers of 
America!' — [Speech delivered at an Anti-Slavery meeting in London, 1835. 

He had given the Americans some severe but merited reproofs ; for which 
they had paid him wages in abuse and scurrility. He was satisfied that they 
had done so. He was accustomed to receive such wages in return for his la- 
bors. He had never done good, but what he was vilified for his pains ; and he 
felt that he could not sleep soundly were such opponents to cease abusing him. 
(Cheers.) He ivoxdd continue to earn such, wages. (Cheers.) By the blessing 
of God, he would yet trample on the serpent of slave-owning cupidity, and tri- 
umph over the hiss of the foul reptile, which marked its agony, and excited his 
contempt. The Americans, in their conduct towards the slaves, were traitors 
to the cause of human liberty, and foul detractors of the democratic principle, 
which he had cherished throughout his political life, and blasphemers of that 
great and sacred name which they pretended to reverence. In reprobation of 
their disgraceful conduct, his public voice had been heard across the wide At- 
lantic. Like the thunder-storm in its strength, it had careered against the 
breeze, armed with the lightning of Christian truth. (Great cheering.) And, 
let them seek to repress it as they may ; let them murder and assassinate in the 
true spirit of Lynch law ; the storm would wax louder and louder around them, 
till the claims of justice became too strong to be withstood, and the black man 



25 

would stand up, too h\g for his chains. It seemed, indeed— he hoped what he 
was about to say was not profanation — as if tiie curiae of the Ahnighty had al- 
ready overtaken tliom. For the lirst time in their political history, disirraceful 
tu:nnlt and anarchy had been witnessed in tlieir cities. Blood iiad been shed 
without l!ie sanction of Lnv, and even !Sir Robert Peel had l)een enabled — but 
he was here in danijer of becoming political. (Cries of no, no — go on, and 
cheers.) Well, then, even Sir R. Peel had been enabled to taunt the Ameri- 
cans with gross inconsistency and lawless proceedings. He differed from Sir 
Robert Peel on many points. (Laughter.) Every body knew tiiat. (Renewed 
cheering.) It was no doubt presumption in him to difier from so great a man, 
but yet such was the fact. (Laugiiter.) On one point, however, he fully anreed 
with him. Let the proud Americans learn, that all parties in tliis coiminj unite 
in condtmnation of their conduct; and let ihein also learn that the worst of all 
aristocracies is that which prevails in America — an aristocracy which had been 
aptly denominated that of the human skin. The most insutferable pride was 
that shown by such an aristocracy. And yet he must confess that he could not 
understand such pride. He could understand the pride of noble descent. He 
could understand why a man should plume himself on the success of his ances- 
tors, in plundering the people some centuries ago. He could understand the 
pride arising from immense landed possessions. He could even understand the 
pride of wealth, the fruit of honest and careful industry. Yet when he thought 
of the color of the skin making men aristocratic, he felt his astonishment to vie 
with his contempt. Many a white skin covered a black heart; yet an aristocrat 
of the skin was the proudest of the proud. Republicans were proverbially 
proud, and therefore he delighted to taunt the Americans with the superlative 
meanness, as well as injustice, of their assumed airs of superiority over their 
black fellow-citizens. (Cheers.) He would continue to hurl his taunts across 
the Atlantic. And, oh! — but perhaps it was his pride that dictated the hope — 
THAT SOME BLACK O'CONNELL MIGHT RISE AMONG HIS FEL- 
LOW SLAVES, (tremendous cheers,) who would cry AGITATE, AGITA'l'E, 
(renewed cheering,) till the two millions and a half of his fellow sufferers learnea 
the secret of their strenjth — learned that they were two millions and a half. 
(Enthusiastic cheers.) If there was one thing which more than another could 
excite his haired, it was the laws which the Americans had framed to prevent 
the instruction of their slaves. To be seen in company with a negro who could 
write, was visited with imprisonment, (shame!) and to teach a slave the princi- 
ples of freedom was punished with death. Were these human laws, it might 
be asked ? Were they not laws made by wolves of the forest.^ No — they were 
made by a congregation of two-legged wolves — American wolves — monsters in 
human shape, who boast of their liberty and of their humanity, while they carry 
the hearts of tigers within them. (Cheers.)— [Speech delivered at the presenta- 
tion of the Emancipation Society's Address to Mr. O'Connell, 1835. 

I hate slavery in all countries — the slavery of the Poles in Russia under their mis- 
creant tijrant, and the slavery of the unfortunate men of color under their fel- 
low-men, the boasted friends of liberty in the United States. Let the slave 
leap up for joy when he hears of the meeting this day (cheers); let him have 
the prospect of freedom to cheer him in the decline of life (cheers.) JFe ou^ht 
to make our exertions strongly, immediately and unanimously (cheers.) Re- 
member what is taking place elsewhere. Only cast your eyes across the At- 
lantic, and see what is taking place on the American shores (cheers.) Behold 
those pretended sons of freedom — those who declared that every man was equal 
in the presence of his God — that every man had an inalienable right to liberty 
— behold them making, in the name of honor, their paltry honor, an organized 
resistance in Southern slave States, against the advocates of emancipation. — 
Behold them aiding in the robbery committed on an independent State. See 

4 



26 

how they have seized upon the territory of Texas, taking it from Mexico, Mex- 
ico having totally abolished slavery without apprenticeship, (loud cheers,) in 
order to mike it a new tuirket for slavery (shame !) Remember how they have 
stolen, ciieated, swindled, robbed that country, for the audacious and horrible 
purpose of perpetuating negro slavery (cries of ' Shame !') Remember tliat 
there is now a treaty on foot, in contemplation at least, between the Texians 
and tiie President of the United States, and that it is only postponed till this 
robbery of Texas from Mexico can be completed. Oh! raise the voice of human- 
ity against these horrible crimes (cheers.) There is about republicans a senti- 
ment of pride — a feeling of self-exaltation. Let us tell these republicans, that 
instead of their being the highest in the scale of humanity, THEY ARE 
THE BASEST OF THE BASE, THE VILEST OF THE VILE (tremen- 
dous cheers.) My friends, there is a communitij of sentiment all over the ivorld, 
borne on the wings of the press; and what the humble individual who is now 
addressing you may state, will be carried across the waves of the Atlantic; it 
will go up the Missouri — it will be wafted along the banks of the Mississippi — 
it will reach infernal Texas itself (immense cheering.) And though that pan- 
demonium may scream at the sound, they shall suffer from the lash of human 
indignation applied to their horrible crime [cheers.] If they are not arrested 
in their career of guilt, four new States in America will be filled with slaves. 
O, hideous breeders of human beings for slavery ! Such are the horrors of 
that system in the American States, that it is impossible, in this presence, to 
describe them; the mind is almost polluted by thinking of them. Should the 
measures now contemplated by the Americans be accomplished, these horrors 
will be increased fourfold ; and men, with the human soul degraded, will be in 
a worse state even than the physical degradation of human bodies (cheers.) — 
What have we to look to? Their honor — their generosity ! We must expect 
nothing from their generosity (cheers.) Sir, 1 cannot restrain myself. It was 
only the other day I read a letter in The Morning Chronicle, from their Phila- 
delphia correspondent. A person, whose Indian name I forget, (a voice, 
' Oceola,') but who was called Powell, had carried on a war at the head of the 
Seminolea, and other Florida tribes, against the people of Florida. He behaved 
nobly, and bravely fought for his country ; and he would have been deified as a 
hero had he fought in a civilized nation, and testimonials would have been rear- 
ed to commemorate his deeds, as great and numerous as those which have been 
raised to a Napoleon or a Wellington ; but what happens to this werrior ? — ■ 
Why, these Americans having made a truce with him, invited him to a confer- 
ence. He comes under the protection of that truce. Thus confiding in their 
honor, is he allowed to return? O no! He is not allowed to return, but ia 
taken prisoner, and carried captive to the fort (shame, shame !) O, cry out 
shame, and let that cry be heard across the waves of the mighty ocean (cheers.) 
We are the teachers of humanity, we are the friends of humanity. What doea 
It signify to us, that the crime is not committed on British soil ? JFherever it 
is committed, ive are its enemies (cheers.) The American, it is true, boasts of 
having been the first to abolish the slave trade carried on in foreign vessels. 
Why, he was. But what was the consequence ? Every one of his own slaves 
at home was made of more value to him. It tvas a swindling humanity. It ivas 
tvorse than our twenty millions scheme. It had the guise of humanity, but had 
really the spirit of avarice and oppression (cheers.) I, perhaps, ought to apolo- 
gize for detaining you (no, no! go on!); but we are all children of the 
same Creator, heirs to the same promise, purchased by the blood of the same 
Redeemer, and what signifies of what caste, color or creed we may be [cheers]? 
It is our duty to proclaim that the cause of the negro is our cause, and that we will 
insist upon doing away, to the best of our human ability, the stain of slavery, 
not only from every portion of this mighty empire, but from the ivhole face of the 
earth [cheers.) If there be in the huts of Africa, or amidst the swamps of Tex- 



27 

as, a human being' panting' for liberty, let it be proclaimed to him that he has 
friends and supporters amongst the great British nation (cheers.) — [Speech de- 
livered at a pubJic meeting of Anti-Slavery delegates, 1837. 

It is utterly impossible that any thing should exist more horrible than the 
American slave breeding. The history of it is this : The Americans abolished 
the foreign slave trade earlier than England, but with this consulation — no 
small comfort to so money loving a race as the slaveholder^' — that by such abo- 
lition, they enhanced the price of the slaves then in America, by stopping the 
competition in the home market of newly imported slaves. Why, otherwise, ■was 
not the home trade stopped as well as the foreign ? The reply is obvious. 

To supply the home slave trade, an abominable, a most hideous, most crimi- 
nal, and most revolting practice of breeding negroes exclusively for sale, has 
sprung up, and especially, we are told, in Virginia. There are breeding planta- 
tions for producing negroes, as there are with us breeding farms for producing 
calves and lambs. And as our calf and lamb breeders calculate the number of 
males of the flock to the females, similar calculations are made by the traffickers 
in human flesh. One instance was mentioned to tne of a human breeding farm 
in America, which was supplied ■with two men and twelve women. Why should 
I pollute my page with a description of all that is immoral and infamous in such 
practice ? But only think of the wretched mothers, whom nature compels to 
love their children — children torn from them forever, just at the period that they 
could requite their mother's love ! The wretclipd, wretched mother ! Who can 
depict the mother's distraction, her madness! ' But their maternal feelings are,' 
says a modern writer, 'treated wii'.i as much contemptuous indifference, as those 
of ihe cows and ewes whose calves and lambs are sent to the English market.' 

That it is which stains the character of the American slaveholder, and leaves 
the breeder of slaves the most detestable of human beings; especially when 
that slaveholder is a republican, boasting of freedom, shouting out for liberty, 
and declaring, as the charter of his liberal institutions, these are self-evident 
truths, ^that all men are created equal — that they are endoioed by thtir Creator with 
certain inalienable rights — that among these rights are life, liberty, and the 

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.' 

My sole object in my speech at Birmingham, and present object, is to rouse 
the attention of England and of Europe to all that is cruel, criminal, and, in 
every sense of the word, infamous, in the system of negro slavery in North 
America. Mt deliberate conviction is, that until that system is abolished, 
no American slaveholder ought to be received on a fooling ofequalitjj by any of the 
civilized inhabitants of Europe. — [Letter of Mr. O'Connell to the Editor of the 
London Morning Chronicle, 1838. 

I have no superfluous tears to shed for Ireland, and shall show my love of my 
country by continuing my exertions to obtain for her, justice and good govern- 
ment; but I feel that I have something Irish at ray heart, ichich makes me sym- 
pathize ivith all those who are suffering under oppression, and forces me to give to 
universal man, the benefit of the exertions which are the consequence. (Cheers.) — 
And what adds peculiarly to the claim of Ireland for sympathy and support is, 
that in the great cause of suffering humanity, no voice was ever raised, but Ire- 
land was found ready to afford relief and succor. — [Speech delivered at a meet- 
ing of the British India Society, 1839. 

He then came to North America, and there, thank God, he found much rea- 
son for congratulation. There were now present forty representatives of 
American Abolition Societies to aid them in the great straggle for human liberty. 
Let them be honored, in proportion as the slaveholders we>e execrated. Oh! they 
had a hard battle to fight ! In place of being honored as they were in this land, 



28 

they had to encounter coolness and outrage ; the bowie knife and lynch law 
threatened tiiem ; they were aboliiionists at the risk of their lives (cheers.) — 
Glory to them ! A year or two since, he made some observations upon the con- 
duct of the American Minister; he charged him with breeding slaves for sale; 
he denied it ; and, in order to prove who was right, he sent him [Mr. O'Connell] 
a challenge to fight a duel (laughter.) He did not accept it. Nothing would 
ever induce him to commit murder. God had forbidden it, and he would obey 
him [cheers.] The American Minister denied the charge, but he admitted that 
he had slaves, and he admitted that he did afterwards sell some ; so let him have 
the benefit of such a denial [a laugh.] He added, however, that he did not be- 
lieve tiiat slaves were bred for sale in Virginia. Now, he would read some i'ew 
extracts from Judge Jay's book, published in New-York, in 1839. He would 
call Mr. Stevenson's attention to page 88 of that book, and that would prove to 
him not only that slave-breeding existed in Virginia, but within twenty-five 
miles of his own residence. [The Hon. Gentleman read several extracts, pro- 
ving the practice ; also several advertisements of lots of slaves wanted for ready 
money, for shipment to New-Orleans, and dated in Richmond, the very place of 
Mr. Stevenson's residence.] He had established ngainstthe Ambassador, that 
slave-raising did exist in Virginia — yet all these things took place in a civilized 
country — a civilized age — advertisements of human flesh for sale, and written in 
even a more contemptuous manner than if the subjects of them were cattle. The 
traflic in slaves from the North to the Southern Slates was immense. In the 
latter, they were put to the culture of sugar — a horrible culture, that swept off 
the whole in seven years — every seven years there was a new generation wan- 
ted. This was in a community calling themselves civilized. Why, they were 
ivorse than the savage beasts of ike desert, for they only mangled when driven to it 
by hunger ; but this horrible practice is carried on by well-fed Americans for 
paltry pecuniary profit — for that low and base consideration, they destroy an- 
nually their tens and twenty thousands. 

These scenes took place in a country, which, in all other respects, had a 
fair claim to be called civilized — in a country which had nobly worked out its 
own freedom — in a country where the men were brave and the women beauti- 
ful. Amongst the descendants of Englishmen — even amongst such was to be 
found a horrible population, whose thirst for gold could only be gratified at the 
expense of such scenes of human suffering; a population who were insensible 
to the wrath of God, who were insensible to the cries and screams of mothers 
and children, torn from each other forever. But there was one thing they would 
not be insensible to — they dare not, they would not be insensible to the contempt 
of Europe (loud cheers.) While they embraced the Jlmerican Aholitionists as 
friends and brothers, let none of the slave-owners, dealers in human fesh, dare to 
set afoot upon our free soil [cheering.] Let them call upon the Government to 
protest to America, that they would not receive any slaveholding ambassador [loud 
cheering.] Let them declare that no slave-owner can be admitted into European 
society ; and then Calhoun and Clay, and men like them, who stand up putting 
forth their claims to be President of the great Republic, must yield to the pub- 
lic, universal opinion. He had made mention of those two men — he would only 
say that Calhoun ivas branded with the blood issuing from the stripes of the slave, and 
Clay drowned m the tears of the mothers and the children (cheers.) Let the people 
of Europe say to slave-owners, ' Murderers, you belong not to us, — away 

TO THE DESERT, AND HERD WITH KINDRED SAVAGES ! ' [cheCrS.] He begged 

pardon of the savage (laughter.) Sometimes in anger he committed heinous 
crimes, but he was incapable of coolly calculating how long or how hard he 
could work a human being with a profit, — sometimes granting him a boon for 
the purpose of obtaining a year or two's more labor out of him. Well, are we to 
remain passive as hitherto ? [loud cries of ' No, no ! '] Let our declaration also 
go abroad. Let this Society adopt it — let the benevolence and good sense of 



29 

Englishmen make that declaration. If an American addresses you, find out at 
once if he be a slaveholder [hear, hear.] He may have business with yoii, and the 
less you do with him, the better [a laugh] — but the moment that is over, turn 
from him as it" he had the cholera or the plague [cheers] — for there is a moral 
cholera and a political plague upon him (cheers.) He belongs not to your 

COUNTRY OR YOUR CLIME — HE IS WOT WITHIN THE PALE OF CIVILIZATION OR 

Christianitt [cheers.] Let us rally for the liberty of the human race [ap- 
plause] — no matter in what counti-y or in what clime he is found, the slave is enti- 
tled to our protection ; no matter of what caste, of wliat creed, or what color, he 
is your fellow-man — he is suffering injustice ; and British generosity, which 
has done so much already, ought to be clieered to the task by the recollection 
of the success it has already attained [cheers.] * * * I am zealous in the 
cause, to be sure, but inefficient — acknowledging the humility of the individual, 
I am still swelled by the greatness of the cause. My bosom expands, and I 
glory in the domestic struggle for freedom which gave me a title to stand amonj; 
you, and to use that title in the best way I can, to proclaim humanity to man, 
and the abolition of slavery all over the luorld. — [Speech delivered at the anni- 
versary of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840. 

From this spot, I wish to rouse all the high and lofty pride of the American 
mind. Republicanism necessarily gives a higher and prouder tone to the hu- 
man mind than any other form of government. I am not comparing it with 
any thing else at present ; but all history shows there is a pride about repub- 
licanism, which, perhaps, is a consolation to the republican for any privations 
lie may suffer, and a compensation for many things in which he mav possibly 
be inferior ; but from this spot, I repeat, I wish to rouse all the honesty and 
pride of American youth and manhood ; and ivould that the voice of civilized 
Europe ivould aid me in the appeal, and swell my feeble voice to one shout of 
honest indignation ! And when these Americans point to their boasted Declara- 
tion of Independence, exclaim, '^ Look at your practice ! ' Can there be faith 
in man, or reliance placed in human beings, who thus contrast their action with 
their declarations ? . . . That was the first phrase of their boasted Declara 
tion of Independence. What was the last ? — ' To these principles we solemnly 
pledge our lives,' (invoking the name of the great God, and calling for hig 
aid,) 'we solemnly pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.' It 
has the solemnity without the profaneness of an oath; it speaks in the presence 
of the living God ; it pledges life, fortune, and sacred honor to the principles 
they assert. How can they lay claim to ' sacred honor,' with this dark, em- 
phatic, and diabolical violation of their principles staring them in the face.' 
No ! America must knoiu that all Europe is looking at her, and that her Senate, 
in declaring that there is a property in human beings, has violated her oath to 
God, and 'sacred honor' to men. Will the American come down upon me, 
then, with his republicanism ? I will meet him with the taunt, that he has 
mingled perjury with personal disgrace and dishonor, and inflicted both with 
a double barb into the character of any man who claims property in any hu- 
man being. France, and even England, might possibly adopt such a resolu- 
tion without violating their national honor, because they have made no such 
declarations as America, and therefore she is doubly dyed in disgrace by the 
course she has taken, in open opposition to her own charter of Independence. 
* * * 1 rejoice to hear the present agitation is striking terror into the hearts 
of the slave-mongers, whose selfish interests, vile passions, and predominant 
pride, with all that is bad and unworthy commingled, make them willing to 
retain their hold of human property, and to work with the bones and blood of 
their fellow-creatures; whilst a species of democratic aristocracy, the filthi- 
est aristocracy that ever entered into civilized society, is set up in the several 
States, an aristocracy that wishes to have property without the trouble and toil 



30 

of earning it, and to set themselves above men, only to plunder them of their 
natural rights, and to live solely upon their labor. Thus, the gratification of 
every bad passion, and every base emotion ot the human mind, is enlisted in 
defence of the slaveholder's right. When we turn our eyes upon America, 
we see in her Declaration of Independence, the display of ihe democratic ele- 
ments of popular feeling against every thing like tyranny or oppression. But 
when 1 come to the District of Columbia, there I see in the capitol and temple 
of freedom, the negro chained to his toil, and writhing beneath the lash of his 
taskmaster, and the negress doomeu lO all the horrors of slavery. There I see 
their infant, yet unable to understand what it is that tortures its father, or dis- 
tracts its mother; while that mother is cursing its existence, because it is not 
a man, but a slave; and almost wishing — oh! what a wringing thought to a 
mother's heart — that the child might sink into an early grave, rather than be- 
come the property of an excruciating tyrant, and the instrument of wealth to 
others, without being able to procure comfort and happiness for itself. That 
is America; that is the land of ihe free ; these are the illustrations of the glorious 
principles laid down in the Declaration of American Independence ! Tliese cils, 
inflicted as they are by the democratic aristocracy of the ^States, are worse 
than ever were inflicted by the most kingly aristocracy, or the most drspotic 
tyranny. I do not mean any thing offensive to our American friends present, 
but I do say, there is written in letters of blood upon the American escutcheon, 
ROBBERY AND MURDER, AND PLUNDKR OF HUMAN BEiNwS, I recogvizc no Amer- 
ican as a fellow-man, except thodc ivho belong to anti-slaienj societies. 'J'iiose 
who uphold slavery are not men as we are, they are not honest as we are ; and 
/ look upon a slaveholder as upon a pickpocket, who violates the common laws 
of property and honesty. 

They say, that by their Constitution they are prevented from emancipating 
the slaves in the slaveholding States ; but I look in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and the Constitution of 1787, and I defy them to find a single word 
about slavery, or any provision for holding property in man. No man can de- 
ny the personal courage of the American people. With the recollection of 
the battles of Bunker's Hill and Saratoga, — of which, indeed, I might be re- 
minded by the portrait which hangs opposite to me, of one of the officers who 
took an active part in those conflicts, (the Ear! of iVIoira,) with the recollection, 
I say, of those battles, it would be disgraceful and dishonest to deny to the 
American people, personal courage and bravery. There exists not a braver 
people upon the face of the earth. But, amongst all those who composed the 
Convention of 1787, there was not one man who had the moral courage — I 
was about to say the immoral courage — to insert the word slavery in the 
Constitution. No! they did not dare pronounce the word; and if they did 
not dare to use the ivord slavery, are they to be allowed to adopt the thing 7 
Is America to shake her star-spangled banner in the breeze, and boast of liberty, 
while she is conscious that that banner foats over the heads of slaves ? Oh, but 
they call it ' persons held to labor,' that is the phrase they use in their docu- 
ments ; but dare any one say that slavery is implied in those words ? The 
term applies to any person who enters into a contract to labor, for a given pe- 
riod, as by the month or year, or for an equivalent; but his doing so does not 
constitute him a slave, surely ; the very term is disgraceful to nature, and an 
affront to nature's God. No wonder the Avord was not in their Declaration ; 
you would not look to find words of injustice and cruelty in a Declaration of 
honesty and humanity. I repeat it, they have not used the word. They meant 
slavery : they intended to have slaves, but they dared not employ the word ; and 
' persons held to labor ' was as near as they dared approach to it. Can you con- 
ceive of a deeper crime than slavery ? A crime which includes in it injustice 
and cruelty, which multiplies robberies and murders! Ay, there is one thing 
worse even than this, and that is hypocrisy added to it. Let hypocrisy be su- 



31 

perinduced on injustice, and you have, indeed, a character fit to mingle with 
the murky powers of darkness ; and the Americans (I speak not of them all, 
there are many noble exceptions,) have added hypocrisy to their other accom- 
plishments. They say they have no power to emancipate the slaves ; is that 
the real reason ? It may be, that they have not power to do so in some particu- 
lar States ; but then, what shall be said of Columbia? There they have full 
power. Columbia is not bound by any restriction; yet in Columbia there are 
slaves, and there they furnish further proof of their hypocrisy. O, say they, 
we are the finest gentlemen, the wisest statesmen, the most profound legislators 
in the world. We are ardent lovers of liberty, we detest slavery, and we la- 
ment that we have not the power to make all free. Then I whisper, Columbia ! 
Columbia! You have the power there, you have the authority there, to remove 
this foul hlot; you have tiie means and opportunities ; you have, in short, every 
thing but the tvill : the will alone is wanting ; and, with all your professions, you 
are hypocrites. 

But I will now turn to a subject of congratulation : I mean the Anti-Slavenj 
Societies of America — those noble-hearted men and tvomen, who, through difficul- 
ties and dangers, have proved how hearty they are in the cause of abolition. I 
hail them all as my friends, and wish them to regard me as a brother. I wish 
for no higher station in the world; hui I do covet the honor of being a brother 
with these American abolitionists. In this country, the abolitionists are in per- 
fect safety : here we have fame and honor; we are lauded and encouraged by 
the good ; we are smiled upon and cheered by the fair; we are bound together 
by godlike truth and charity ; and though we have our differences as to points 
of faith, we have no differences as to this point, and we proceed in our useful ca- 
reer esteemed and honored; but it is not so with our anti-slavery friends in 
America; there they are vilified, there they are insulted. Why, did not very 
lately a body of men — of gentlemen, so called— of persons who would be angry 
if you denied 'them that cognomen, and would even be ready to call you out to 
share a rifle and a ball — did not such ' gentlemen ' break in upon an Anti-Slave- 
ry Society in America; aye, upon a ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, and assault 
them in a most cowardly manner? And did they not denounce the members 
of that Society? And where did this happen? Why, in Boston — in enlight- 
ened Boston, the capital of a non-slaveholding State. In this country, the abo- 
litionists have nothing to complain of; but in America, they are met with the 
bowie-knife and lynch law! Yes! in America, you have had martyrs ; your 
cause has been stained with blood ; the voice of your brethren's blood crieth 
from the ground, and riseth high, not, I trust, for vengeance, but for mercy upon 
those who have thus treated them. But you ought not to be discouraged, or re- 
lax in your efforts. Here you have ho^nor. A human being cannot be placed 
in a more glorious position than to take up such a cause under siich circumstances. 
I am delighted to be one of a Convention in ivhich are so many of such great 
and good men. I trust that their reception will be such as that their zeal may 
be greatly strengthened to continue their noble struggle. I have reason to 
hope, that, in this assembly, a voice will be raised which will roll back in thun- 
der to America, which will mingle with her mighty waves, and which will 
cause one universal shout of liberty to be heard throughout the world. O, 
there is not a delegate from the Anti-Slavery Societies of America, but ought to 
have his mme, aye, her name, written in characters of immortality. 
The Anti-Slavery Societies in America are deeply persecuted, and are deserving of 
every encouragement tvhich we can possibly give them. I would that I had the 
eloquence to depict their character aright; but my tongue falters, and my 
powers fail, while I attempt to describe them. They are the true friends 
OF humanity, and would that I had a tongue to describe aright the mighty 
majesty of their undertaking! I love and honor America and the Americans. 
I respect their great principles ; their untiring industry ; their lofty genius ; 



32 

their social inslitntions; their morals, such morals as can exist with slavery — 
God knows they ciinnot he many— but I respect all in thein or about tlieni that 
is irooil. But, at the same tiuie, I denounce and anaiheuiatize them as slave- 
holders, and hold them up to the scorn of all civilized Europe. I would that 
the yoveruinent of this country would determine to have no dealingg wiili lam, 
and to tell the United States of America, Ihxl thc>j must send 7io more slavc- 
holdinrr ncgollators here ! 

I will tell you a little anecdote. Last year, I was accosted with great civility 
by a well-dressed, gentleman-like person, in the lobby of the House of Commons. 
Pie slated that he was from America, and was anxious to be admitted to the 
House. ' From what State do you come ? ' ' From Alabama.' ' A slaveholder, 
perhaps?' 'Yes.' 'Then,' said I, 'I beg to be excused ;' and so I bowed and 
left him. Now, that is an example which I wish to be followed. 
Have no intercourse with a slaveholder. You may, perhaps, deal witli him as 
u man of business, but, even then, you must act with caution, as you would 
with a pickpocket and a robber. You ought to be very scant of courtesy towards 
him, at least until he has cleared himself of the foul imputation. Let us beware 
of too much fiimiliarity with such men; and let us plainly and honestly tell them, 
as a Convention, what we think of them. I am not for the employment of force ; 
no — let all be done by the statement of indisputable facts ; by the diffusion of 
information ; by the union of benevolent minds ; by our bold determination to 
expose tyrannji and cruelty ; by proclaiming to the slaveholders that, so long as 
they have any connexion with the accursed traffic in human beings, tve hold them 
to be a different race. Why should it not be so ? Why should we not shrink 
from them, as ive tvould with shudderi7ig from the approach of the vilest reptiles ? 
The declaration of such views and feelings from such a body of men as are 
now before me, will make the slaveholders tremble. My voice is feeble : but I 
have no doubt that what I say will reach them, and that it will have some influ- 
ence upon them. They must feel that they cannot much longer hold the sway. 
One of the great objects of my hope is to affright the Americans by laying hold 
upon their pride, their vanity, their self-esteem, by commending what is excellent 
in them, and by showing how very far they come short in those properties upon 
which they boast themselves. I would have this Convention avail themselves 
of all such aids, and to urge them by every possible argument to abandon the 
horrid vice by which their character is so foully disfigured. * * * We have proof 
this day that there are those who love the cause of freedom in every part of the 
globe. And why should it not be so ? Why should not all unite in such a glo- 
rious cause ? We are all formed by the same Creator ; we are alike the objects 
of the same watchful Providence ; we are all the purchase of the same redeem- 
ing blood ; we have one common Saviour ; and our hearts beat high with the 
same immortal hopes. And why should any portion of the human race be shut 
out from our affection and regard .^4* * * O let a word go forth from this place, 
that we do not deem the Americans Christians, by whatever name they are 
called, whether Episcopalians, or Baptists, or Independents, or Methodists, or 
whatever other name,— that we regard them not as Christians at all, unless they 
cordially unite with us in this great work. We honor all that is really good in 
America, and would have it all on our side in this glorious struggle — in this 
holy cause. Let us unite and persevere, and, by the blessing of God, and the 
aid of good men, freedom will, ere long, wave her triumphant banner over eman- 
cipated America, and we shall unite with the whole world to rejoice in the 
result. — [From a speech delivered by Mr. O'Connell, on the third day of the 
sittings of the World's Anti-Slavery Convention, held in Freemason's Hall, 
Loudon, June, 1840. 



33 

" Faithful are the wounds of a friend." These, sir, are terrible de- 
nunciations ; but are they not justly applied ? Let no man accuse 
Daniel O'Connell of having been inimical to the character and pros- 
perity of this republic. The strength of his rebuke was the measure 
of his love. He was true to his convictions of duty. Whenever he 
heard our boasts of freedom and equality, and then saw us wielding the 
slave-driver's lash and sundering the ties of nature — buying, selling and 
enslaving our fellow-creatures, on a gigantic scale — making republican- 
ism a by-word among the tyrants of the Old World, and thus perpetuat- 
ing the thraldom of the oppressed millions of Europe — a mighty moral 
conflagration instantly kindled within him. It was then that the flames 
of his righteous indignation burst out in awful grandeur and with con- 
suming power, the intensity of which spread over the Atlantic, and was 
felt in every section of our land. There was something sublime in the 
attitude of this great vindicator of human rights. If he had courted 
popularity in America, — that evanescent popularity which general cor- 
ruption bestows upon its apologist, — if he had been intent on advancing 
the interests of Ireland at any sacrifice, even the sacrifice of truth and 
honor, — he would either have flattered our vices and extenuated our 
crimes, or, like yourself, have maintained an unbroken silence in regard 
to them. But his love of liberty was stronger than all personal consid- 
erations, — stronger than his regard even for his own stricken Ireland, — 
and therefore he exclaimed, on every suitable occasion, •' Oh, the 
inconsistency of these apostles of liberty, talking of freedom, while 
they basely and wickedly continue the slavery of their fellow- 
men ! " 

Similar was the indignation felt and cherished by Ireland's dis- 
tinguished poet, Thomas Moore, as expressed in the following 
lines : — 

" Who can, with patience, for a moment see 
The medley mass of pride and misery. 
Of whips and charters, manacles and rights, 
Of slaving blacks and democratic whites. 
And all the piebald policy that reigns 
In free confusion o'er Columbia's plains ? 
To think that man, thou just and gentle God ! 
Should stand before thee with a tyrant's rod. 
O'er creatures like himself, with souls from thee. 
Yet dare to boast of periect liberty ! 
Away 1 away ! I'd rather hold my neck 
By doubtful tenure from a Sultan's beck. 
In climes where liberty has scarce been nam'd, 
Nor any right but that of ruling claim'd, 
Thau thus to live where boasted Freedom waves 
Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves I " 



u 

Where motley laws, (admitting no degree 
Betwixt the basely slav'd and madly free,) 
Alike the bondage and the license suit-~ 
The brute made ruler, and the man made brute '. ■' 

Not merely at a distance from us, however, but in our immediate 
presence — face to face — has the same fidelity been shown to us by one 
born on a foreign strand. In the year 1835, the present distinguished 
member of Parliament for the Tower Hamlets in London, George 
Thompson, was in this country, disinterestedly laboring by Christian 
instrumentalities to bring slavery to an immediate end, in the spirit of 
peace, and without the shedding of blood — in imitation of the example 
of WiLBERFORCE, Clarkson, and other illustrious philanthropists in 
Great Britain, for the abolition of West India slavery. After the expe- 
rience and observation of a year, — himself nearly all that time hunted 
for his life as though he had been a wild beast, — he registered his testi- 
mony as follows, which is substantially as applicable to our guilty nation 
now, as it was strictly true at that period. Read and compare it, Kos- 
suth, with your laudations of us, and blush for your sycophancy ! 

How unutterably affecting is a view of the present aspect of the country ! 
The enslavement of the colored population seems to be but one of a hideous 
host of evils, threatening in their combined influence the overthrow of the 
fairest prospects of this wide republic. My fears are founded upon the symp- 
toms every where exhibited, of an approach to mob-supremacy, and consequent 
anarchy. In every direction, I see the minority prostrate before the majority ; 
who, despite of law, the Constitution, and natural equity, put iheir heel upon 
the neck of the weaker portion, and perpetrate every enormity in the name of 
" public opinion." " Public opinion " is at this hour the demon of oppression, 
harnessing to the ploughshare of ruin, the ignorant and interested opposers of 
the truth in every section of this heaven-favored, but mob-cursed land. Where 
is the freedom of speech ? where the right of association ? where the security 
of national conveyances ? where the inviolability of personal liberty ? where 
the sanctity of the domestic circle ? where the protection of property ? where 
the prerogatives of the judge? where the trial by jury ? Gone, or fast disap- 
pearing. The minority in every place speak, and Avrite, and meet, and walk, 
at the peril of their lives. * * Were I a citizen of this country, and did 
there seem no escape from such a dreadful state of things — if I did not, on 
behalf of the righteous and consistent, (for, thank God, there are thousands 
of such, who cease not day nor night to weep and pray for their country,) 
hope and believe for brighter days and better deeds, I should choose to own 
the dominion of the darkest despot that ever sealed the lips of truth, or made 
the sold of a slave tremble at his glance. If I must be a slave, if my lips 
must wear a padlock, if I must crouch and crawl, let it be before an hereditary 
tyrant. Let me see around me the symbols of royalty, the bayonets of a 
standing army, the frowning battlements of a Bastile. Let me breathe the 
air of a country where the divine right of kings to govern wrong is acknowl- 
edged and respected. Let me know what is the sovereign will and pleasure 
of the one man I am taught to fear and serve. Let me not see my rights, and 
property, and liberties, scattered to the same breeze that floats the flag of free- 



dom. Let me not be sacrificed to the demon of despotism, while laying hold 
upon the horns of an altar dedicated to "Freedom and Equality!" * * 
O, tell it not in St. Petersburg'! publish it not in the streets of Constantino- 
ple! But it will be told ; it will be published. The damning fact will ring 
through all the haunts of despotism, and will be a cordial to the heart of Met- 
ternich, sweet music in the ears of tiie haughty Czar, and a prophetic note of 
triumph to the sovereign Pontiff*. What American lip will henceforth dare to 
breathe a sentence of condemnation against the bulls of the Pope, or the 
edicts of the Autocrat ? Should a tongue wag in affected sympathy for the 
denationalized Pole, the outlawed Greek, the Avretched Serf, or any of the 
priest-ridden or king-ridden victims of Europe, will not a voice come thunder- 
ing over the billows : — 

"Base hypocrites! let your charity begin at home! Look at your own 
Carolinas! Go, pour the balm of consolation into the broken hearts of your 
Uvo millions of enslaved children! Rebuke the murderers of Vicksburg! 
Reckon with the felons of Charleston ! Restore the contents of rifled mail- 
bags ! Heal the lacerations, still festering, on the ploughed backs of your 
citizens! Dissolve the star-chambers of Virginia! Tell the confederated 
assassins of Alabama and Mississippi to disband ! Call to judgment the bar- 
barians of Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and New York, and Concord, and 
Haverhill, and Lynn, and Montpelier ; and the well-dressed mobocrats of Utica, 
and Salem, and Boston ! Go, ye praters about the soul-destroying ignorance of 
Romanism, gather again the scattered schools of Canterbury and Canaan ! 
Get the clerical minions of Southern taskmasters to rescind their ' Resolu- 
tions ' of withholding knowledge from immortal Americans ! Rend the veil 
of legal enactments, by which the beams of light divine are hidden from mil- 
lions who are left to grope their way through darkness here, to everlasting 
blackness beyond the grave ! Go, shed your ' patriotic ' tears over the infamy 
of your country, amidst the ruins of yonder Convent! Go, proud and senti 
mental Bostonians, preach clemency to the respectable horde who are drag- 
ging forth for immolation one of your own citizens ! Cease your anathemas 
against the Vatican, and screw your courage up to resist the worse than papal 
bulls of Georgia, demanding, at the peril of your ' bread and butter,' the 
' HEADS ' of your citizens, and the passage of gag-laws ! Before you rail at 
arbitrary power in foreign regions, save your own citizens from the felonious 
interception of their correspondence; and teach the sworn and paid servants of 
the Republic the obligations of an oath, and the guaranteed rights of a free 
people ! Send not your banners to Poland, but tear them into shreds, to be 
distributed to the mob, as halters for your sons ! When, next July, you rail at 
mitres, and crosiers, and sceptres ; and denounce the bow-string, and the bayo- 
net, and the fagot ; let your halls be decorated with plaited scourges, wet 
with the blood of the sons of the Pilgrims — let the tar cauldron smoke— the 
gibbet rear aloft its head — and cats and bloodhounds,* (the brute auxiliaries of 

* See the accounts in Southern newspapers of " a curious mode of punishment " recently in- 
troduced, called "cat-hauling." The victim is stretched upon his face, and a cat, thrown 
upon his bare shoulders, is dragged to the bottom of the back. This is continued till the body 
is " lacerated." 

'•The Vicksburg (Miss.) Register says, that Mr. Earl, one of the victims of mobocracy in 
Mississippi, was tortured a whole night to elicit confession. The brutal and hellish tormentors 
laid Mr. Earl upon his back, and drew a cat tail foremost across his body 1 1 1 He hung him- 
self soon after in jail." 

See also the accounts of the Mississippi murders given by a correspondent in the Charleston 
Courier, dating his letter Tyger (how appropriate!) Bayou, Madison County, Miss. The fol- 
lowing is an extract;— "Andrew Boyd, a conspirator, was required by the Committee of 
Safety, and Mr. Dickerson, Hiram Reynolds and Hiram Perkins (since killed) \tere ordered to 



36 

Southern Liberty men,) howl and bark in unison with the demoniacal ravings 
of a ' gentlemanly mob ' — while above the Orator of the day, and beneath the 
striped and starry banner, stand forth, in characters of blood, the distinctive 
mottoes of the age : — Down with Discussion ! Lynch Law Triumphant ! 
Slavery for ever ! Hail, Columbia ! 

" Before you weep over the wrongs of Greece, go wash the gore out of 
your national shambles — appease the frantic mother robbed of her only child, 
the centre of her hopes, and joys, and sympathies — restore to yon desolate 
husband the wife of his bosom — abolish the slave marts of Alexandria, the 
human flesh auctions of Richmond and New Orleans — 'undo the heavy 
burdens,' ' break every yoke,' and stand forth to the gaze of the world, not 
steeped in infamy and rank with blood, but in the posture of penitence and 
prayer, a free and regenerated nation ! " 

Such, truly, are the bitter reproaches with which every breeze from a dis- 
tant land might be justly freighted. How long — in the name of outraged 
humanity I ask, how long shall they be deserved ? Are the people greedy of 
a world's execration ? or have they any sense of shame — any blush of patriot- 
ism left? Each day the flagrant inconsistency and gross wickedness of the 
nation are becoming more widely and correctly known. Already, on foreign 
shores, the lovers of corruption and despotism are referring with exultation to 
the recent bloody dramas in the South, and the pro-slavery meetings and mobs 
of the country generally, in proof of the ' dangerous tendency of Democratic 
principles.' How long shall the deeds of America clog the wheels of the car 
of Universal Freedom ? Vain is every boast — acts speak louder than words. 
While 

" Columbia's sons are bought and sold ; " 

while citizens of America are murdered without trial; while persons and 
property are at the mercy of a mob ; while city authorities are obliged to make 
concessions to a bloody-minded multitude, and finally incarcerate unoffending 
citizens to save them from a violent death ; while " gentlemen of standing and 
property" are in unholy league to eflfect the abduction and destruction of a 
" foreigner," the head and front of whose offending is, that he is laboring to 
save the country from its worst foe; while assemblages of highly respectable 
citizens, comprising large numbers of the clergy, and some of the judges of 
the land, are interrupted and broken up, and the houses of God in which they 
met attacked in open day by thousands of men, armed with all the implements 
of demolition ; while the entire South presents one great scene of slavery and 
slaughter; and while the North deeply sympathise with their "Southern 
brethren," sanction their deeds of felony and murder, and obsequiously do 
their bidding by hunting down their own fellow-citizens who dare to plead for 
equal rights ; and, finally, while hundreds of the ministers of Christ, of every 
denomination, are making common cause with the plunderer of his species ; 
yea, themselves reducing God's image to the level of the brute, and glorying in 
their shame ; I say, while these things exist, professions and boasts are "sound- 
ing brass ; " men will learn to loathe the name of Republicanism, and deem it 
synonymous with mob despotism, and the foulest oppression on the face of the 
globe ! 

arrest him. They discovered he was flying, and immediately commenced the pursuit, with a 
pack of TRAINED HOUNDS. He miraculously effected his deliverance from his pursuers, after 
swimming Big Black Kiver, and running through cane-brakes and swamps until night-fall, 
when the party called off the dogs. Early next morning they renewed the chase, and started 
Boyd one mile from whence they had called off the dogs. But he effected his escape on horse, 
(fortune throwing one in his way,) the hounds not being accustomed to that training after he 
quit the bush." 



37 

In addition to these weighty testimonies, take that of one whose phi- 
lanthropic fame fills the civilized world, whose spirit was characterised 
by rare meekness and simplicity, and whose language was ever chosen 
with the utmost precaution — the deeply lamented Thomas Clarkson, 
of England : — 

Slavery is the greatest evil which has ever afflicted your country. It has 
heaped incalculable sufferings upon the heads of a people Avho have never 
given you any cause of offence ; and you have done this without any right to 
do it but your own will and the law of force. It has corrupted the morals of 
your population to a frightful extent, by familiarizing them with cruelty and 
injustice, by hardening their hearts, and by giving birth to erroneous opinions 
which lead to infidelity; and, moreover, it has injured yournational character in 
the eyes of the civilized nations of the tvorld. 

You have got a slave-holding President, a slave-holding Senate, a slave- 
holding Congress, and a slave-holding Cabinet. You have got the very sort 
of men in these high offices, the most detrimental to your best interests. 

In the common routine of business, in Congress, they have done, perhaps, 
as well as any other men could have done ; but, whenever slavery has been 
brought before them as a matter of business, the most malignant of tvliat ive 
call demons could not have done tvorse. Their laws against their slaves stand 
on record as the most bloody of the most savage nations upon earth; so shocking 
as to produce horror and indignation in all who read them ; and so shocking 
that one of your own judges, Stroud, who first brought them together in print, 
is now, or was lately, buying up the unsold copies ; because, as was reported, 
wherever the book is seen, it makes converts to the Anti-Slavery cause. Again, 
the men filling these offices brought forward and passed the famous gagging 
bills, and gave the power to Postmasters to open letters and parcels, thus stop- 
ping the free liberty of speech, and of writing a man's own thoughts. And 
why was this tyrannical law passed ? That not a murmur against slavay 
might he allowed to transpire, and that slavery might go on uninterruptedly in 
all its miseries and horrors as before, without censure or reproach. * * * 
Again, the men filling these offices caused the butchery of the Indians, and 
the extermination of some of their tribes, on the mere surmise that these 
tribes might disturb the plantations of their brother slave-holders, and afford a 
refuge or retreat for their fugitive slaves. Was this a proper motive for shed- 
ding torrents of blood? And will not a day of just retribution come ? The 
same description of men made a law, that whoever aided the escape of a fugi- 
tive slave from the oppression of a cruel taskmaster, should be punished with 
death; though it was commanded, of old, that no fugitive slave should be re- 
stored to his master. Was not this setting up a legislation in direct opposi- 
tion to the law of God ? Again, the same description of men had the audac- 
ity to propose the annexation of Texas to the United States, so that both might 
be one territory, and under one sway. But for what purpose was this union 
proposed ? To have a contiguous Slave Territory, where the poor fugitive 
could find no shelter, but must be sent back to an enraged owner, to undergo 
whatever torture the monster's ingenuity might think fit ; and, secondly, not 
only to perpetuate slavery in the United States, but to extend it to another 
country, from which it might be spread we know not where. Was there ever 
a more wicked proposition than this, to transfer the whip, the chain, the iron 
collar, and the other hideous instruments of torture, to innocent millions, yet 
unborn, and to an indefinite extent of country ? Could the mind of a JVero 
have invented a more tvholesale complication of cruelty ? * * * 

While slavery lasts, you will have the same sort of men in office, and, of 



38 

course, the same sort of wicked measures, and the same sort of evils, aud 
perhaps worse ; for, wherever arbitrary power has been once exerted success- 
fully, it raay go to precedents it has made for its continuance. What, indeed, 
can you hope for from a slave-holding Cabinet — a Cabinet of men who appear 
to have no fear of God before their eyes, whose motto seems to be expediency 
in preference of honor and honesty, and who have been accustomed to look 
upon the sin of slavery as a common custom only, and without reproach ? 
Will God smile upon the labors of such men ? Or, will he not rather take 
vengeance ? 

But it is not English or Irish philanthropy, that is alone stirred with 
indignation, filled with astonishment, or melted into tears, in view of the 
revolting spectacle presented to the world by the United States as a 
slaveholding republic. Read, sir, the following letter to an eminent 
American lady, (1) now in Paris, (whose name will ever be honorably 
identified with the anti-slavery cause in this country, for her labors and 
sacrifices in its behalf.) from the distinguished Yictoe Hugo, of 
France : — 

Madame : 

I have scarcely anything to add to your letter. I would cheerfully 
sign every line of it Pursue your holy work. You have with you all great 
souls and all good hearts. 

You are pleased to believe, and to assure me, that my voice, in this august 
cause of slavery, will be listened to by the great American people, whom I 
love so profoundly, and whose destinies, I am fain to think, are closely linked 
with the mission of France. You desire me to lift up my voice. 

I will do it at once, and I will do it on all occasions. I agree with you in 
thinking, that, within a definite time — that, within a time not distant, the United 
States will repudiate slavery with horror I Slaver}' in such a country I Can 
there be an incongruity more monstrous ? Barbarism installed in the very 
heart of a countrv, which is itself the afBrmation of civilization : liberty wear- 
ing a chain; blasphemy echoing from the altar; the collar of the negro chained 
to the pedestal of Washington I It is a thing unheard of. I say more, it is 
impossible. Such a spectacle would destroy itself. The light of the nine- 
teenth century alone is enough to destroy it. 

What 1 Slavery sanctioned by law among that illustrious people, who for 
seventy years have measured the progress of civilization by their march, de- 
monstrated democracy by their power, and liberty by their prosperity! Slavery 
in the United States f It is the duty of this republic to set such a bad exam- 
ple no longer. It is a shame, and she was never born 1o bow her head. 

It is not when slavery is taking leave of old nations, that it should be re- 
ceived by the new. What'. W'hen slavery is departing from Turkey, shall 
it rest in America ? What 1 Drive it from the hearth of Omar, and adopt it 
at the hearth of Franklin r No ! Xo I No ! 

There is an inflexible logic which develops more or less slowly, which 
fasliions, which redresses according to a mysterious plan, perceptible only to 
great spirits, the facts, the men, the laws, the morals, the people ; or better, 
under all human things, there are things divine. 

Let all those great souls who love the United States, as a country, be re-as- 
sured. The United States must renounce slavery, or they must renounce lib- 

(1) Mrs. Maria Westox Chapxa:?, of Boston. 



39 

erty. They cannot renounce liberty. They must renounce slavery, or 
renounce the Gospel. They will never renounce the Gospel. 

Accept, Madam, with my devotion to the cause you advocate, the homage 
of my respect. VICTOR HUGO. 

6 Juillet, 1851, Paris. 

O that to you, Louis Kossuth, it had been given to register, in a sim- 
ilar spirit, a similar testimony ! — Mark the readiness with which Victor 
Hugo complied with the request made to him ! Mark, too, the cogency 
as well as the pathos of his rebuke, and on what ground he felt justified 
in bestowing it ! — " You desire me to lift up my voice. / will do it at 
once, and I will do it on all occasions. The destinies of the great 
American people, I am fain to think, are closely linked with the mission 
of France.''^ And are not those destinies as closely linked with 
the mission of Hungary } Yet you are dumb — surrounded by slaves, 
you are dumb — to propitiate their merciless oppressors, you are 
dumb ! The language of the eloquent Frenchman would have come 
with even greater pertinency and force from your lips than from his 
own — " It is not when slavery is taking leave of old nations, that it 
should be received by the new. What ! When slavery is departing 
from Turkey, shall it rest in America ! What ! Drive it from the 
hearth of Omar, and adopt it at the hearth of Fi-anJcUn ! No ! No ! 
No ! " Still you are dumb — you " the champion of liberty " ! Tell it 
not in Austria ! Publish it not in the streets of St. Petersburg ! 

You have alluded, on several occasions, in terms of admiration, to 
the brave and generous assistance which Lafayette rendered to this 
country in its great struggle for independence. You have quoted his 
example, in this particular, as a strong incitement to the people of the 
United States to lend their aid (now that they are powerful) to the op- 
pressed of other lands, especially of Hungary ; and thus to cancel their 
great indebtedness. Having won for himself their gratitude, veneration, 
and almost idolatrous attachment, for his gallant services, if any man 
had strong temptations to avoid giving them offence by " meddling'' 
with their " domestic institutions," Lafayette was that man. But he 
scorned to calculate consequences, and would not be dumb. " When I 
am indulging in my views of American prospects and American 
liberty," he said, " it is mortifying to be told, that, in that very country^ 
a large portion of the people are slaves. It is a dark spot on the 
face of the nation. Such a state of things cannot always exist," It 
is the testimony of Thomas Clakkson, that Lafayette said frequently, 
" I would never have drawn my sword in the cause of America, if I 
coidd have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of slavery. ''"' 



40 

While you would have his example of physical bravery imitated, in the 
extension of our protecting hand to Hungary, will you repudiate his ex- 
ample of moral courage, in rebuking us for our atrocious slave system ? 
Not to cite any more foreign testimony, listen to the confession of a 
Virginian — Thomas Jefferson, himself a slaveholder while he lived, 
although the author of the Declaration of Independence : — 

The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of 
the most boisterous passions ; the most unremitting despotism on the one part, 
and degrading submission on the other. With what execration should the 
statesman be loaded, who, permitting one half the citizens thus to trample on 
the rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and these into enemies, 
destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor patrict of the other ! For if 
the slave can have a country in this world, it must be any other in preference 
to that in which he is born to live and labor for another ; in which he must 
lock up the faculties of his nature, contribute as far as depends on his indi- 
vidual endeavors to the evanishment of the human race, or entail his own mis- 
erable condition on the endless generations proceeding from him. And can 
the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we have removed their only 
firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are 
the gift of God ? that they are not to be violated but with his wrath ? In- 
deed, I tremble for my country w^hen I reflect that God is just; that his jus- 
tice cannot sleep for ever : that, considering numbers, nature, and natural 
means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is 
among possible events ; that it may become probable by supernatural inter- 
ference ! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such 
a contest. * # * 

What an incomprehensible machine is man ! Who can endure toil, famine, 
stripes, imprisonment, and death itself, in vindication of his own liberty, and 
the next moment be deaf to all those motives, whose power supported him 
through his trial, and inflict on his fellow-men a bondage, one hour of ivhich is 
fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose ! 
But we must wait with patience the workings of an overruling Providence, 
and hope that that is preparing the deliverance of these our suffering brethren. 
When the measure of their tears shall be full — when their tears shall have 
involved heaven itself in darkness — doubtless a God of justice will awaken to 
their distress, and by diffusing light and liberality among their oppressors, 
or at length by his exterminating thunder, manifest his attention to things of 
this world, and that they are not left to the guidance of blind fatality. 

Sir, if one hour of the bondage of the American slave is fraught 
with more misery than ages of that which Washington and his com- 
patriots rose in rebellion to oppose, — if, with only half a million of 
slaves, Jefferson trembled for his country when he reflected that God 
was just, — what ought now to be the language of every true friend of 
freedom, whether sojourner or resident here, in full view of more than 
three millions of slaves, and the general purpose to make their bondage 
interminable } 

As further illustrative of the fatuity of your mission to this country, 
and the extravagance of your encomiums upon it, read the following 
lines from one of Freedom's true bards in the United States : — 



41 

" What ; shall we send, with lavish breath, 

Our sympathies across the wa\ e, 
Where Manhood, on the field of death, 

Strikes for his freedom, or a grave? 
And shall the slave, beneath our eye, 

Clank o'er our fields his hateful chain? 
And toss his fettered arms on high, 

And groan for Freedom's gift, in vain ? 

Shall every flap of England's flag 

Proclaim that all around are free, 
From 'farthest Ind ' to each blue crag 

That beetles o'er the Western Sea ? 
And shall we scoff at Europe's kings, 

When Freedom's fire is dim with us, 
And round our country's altar clings 

The damning shade of Slavery's curse? 

Go — let us ask of Constantino 

To loose his grasp on Poland's throat, 
And beg the lord of Mahmoud's line 

To spare the struggling Suliote— 

Will not the scorching answer come 
From turbaned Turk and scornful Russ, 

'Go, LOOSE TOUR FETTERED SLAVES AT EO>[E, 

Then tdrn, and ask the like op us I ' 

Just God ! and shall we calmly rest, 

The Christian's scorn — the heathen's mirth — 
Content to live the lingering jest 

And by-word of a mocking Earth ? 
Shall our own glorious land retain 

That curse which Europe scorns to bear? 
Shall our oion brethren drag the chain, 

Wiich not even. Russia's menials wear? " 

Sir, is it not as palpable as the noon-day sun, that, whatever else this 
country can do, she is not in a condition either to fight the battles of 
European liberty, or to hurl her anathemas at European despots ? Is 
she not constantly liable to be called upon to suppress a servile insurrec- 
tion on the part of the millions whom she is enslaving on her own soil ? 
Is it not literally true, that " the preservation, propagation, and perpetu- 
ation of slavery is the vital and animating spirit of her national govern- 
ment " ? Why, then, do you persist in outraging the common sense of 
the world, by extolling her as the abode of freedom, and the asylum 
of the oppressed ? How can you rationally expect to receive any 
countenance from her, in your bloody rebellion against a tyranny not 
comparable in atrocity with her own ? Or, if her aid can be secured 
to any extent, must it not be on the condition, — either expressed or un- 
derstood, but certainly imperative, — that your lips will be for ever sealed 
respecting her transendant criminality as the most active power in the 
6 



42 

world for the extension and perpetuation of chattel slavery ? And can 
you comply with such a condition, without degrading your manhood ? 

Instead of making the afflictive state of Hungary, and her need of 
assistance, the justification for your silence on the subject of American 
slavery, you are bound, as a man of honor and a true friend of freedom, 
to imitate the illustrious example given by Daniel O'Connell, who, 
when he was struggling against such overwhelming odds for the restora- 
tion to Ireland of some of her ancient rights and privileges, was prof- 
fered the most liberal pecuniary assistance on this side the Atlantic, — 
provided he would cease to reprove us for our traffic in human flesh. 
How he spurned the bribe — and how it will exalt you in the estimation 
of the world to scorn a similar bribe — you will learn by reading the 
following proceedings : — 

At a special meeting of the Loyal National Repeal Association, held in the 
Great Room, Corn Exchange, Dublin, May 9th, 1843, — James Haughton, Esq. 
in the chair, — 

Mr. O'Connell said — The Association liad adjourned to that day for the pur- 
pose of receiving a communication with which they had been honored from the 
Anti-Slavery Society of America — a body of men whom they most entirely respect 
— whose objects should be cherished in their heart's core — whose dangers 
enhanced their virtues — and whose persevering patriotism would either write 
their names on the page of temporal history, or impress them in a higher place, 
where eternal glory and happiness would be the reward of their exertions. 
(Cheers.) His impressions were so strong in favor of the Anti-Slavery Society 
of America, that he thought it would not be so respectful as he would desire, if 
he brought forward that document in the routine of business on the last day, 
when it could not be so much attended to as it deserved. (Hear, hear.) It was 
out of respect to the people who sent that document, that they had adjourned ; 
and he might say, that personal respect for the chairman Avas mixed up with 
that consideration. (Cheers.) They could not have sent a better message, or 
a more sincere one ; and, if he now had the kindness to make the communica- 
tion, they would receive it with the respect it deserved. (Cheers.) 

The Anti-Slavery Address having been read, — 

Mr. O'Connell then said : — I rise with the greatest alacrity to move that that 
most interesting document be inserted on the minutes, and that the fervent 
thanks of the Repeal Association of Ireland be by acclamation voted to the 
writers of it. I never in my life heard any thing read, that imposed more upon 
my feelings, and excited a deeper sympathy and sorrow within me. I never, in 
fact, before knew the horrors of slavery in their genuine colors. It is a produc- 
tion framed in the purest effort of simplicity, but, at the same time, powerful in 
its sentiments, so at once to reach the human heart, and stir up the human 
feelings to sorrow and execration, — sorrow for the victims, and execration for 
the tymnts. (Loud cries of hear, hear, and cheers.) It will have its effect 
throughout Ireland ; for the Irish people did not know what was, alas ! familiar 
to you, Sir, and to me, — the real state of slavery in America, and of the une- 
qualled evils it inflicts ; for slavery, wherever it exists, is the bitterest potion 
that can be commended to the lips of man. Let it be presented in any shape, and 



43 

it must disgust, for a curse inherent to it grows with it, and inflicts oppression 
and cruelty wherever it descends. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) We proclaim it 
an evil ; and though, as a member of this Association, I am not bound to take 
up any national quarrel, still, / do not hesitate to declare my opinions ; I nevtr 
paltered in mij own sentiments, (Cheers.) I never said a word in mitigation of 
slavery in my life ; and I would consider myself the most criminal of human 
beings if I had done so. (Hear, and cheers.) 

Yes, I will say, shame upon every man in America, who is not an anti-slavery 
man ; shame and disgrace upon him. / don't care for the consequences. I will 
not restrain my honest indignation of feeling. I pronounce every man a faith- 
less miscreant, who does not take a part for the abolition of slavery. [Tremen- 
dous cheering for several minutes.] It may be said that offence will be taken 
at these words. Come icliat may from them, they are my words. [Renewed 
applause.] The question never came regularly before us until now. We had 
it introduced collaterally ; we had it mentioned by persons who were friends of 
ours, and who were endeavoring to maintain good relations between us and the 
.slaveholders, but it is only now that it comes directly before us. We might 
have shrunk from the question by referring the document to a committee ; but, 
I would consider such a course unworthy of me, enjoying as I do the confidence 
of the virtuous, the religious, and the humane people of Ireland ; for I would 
be unfit to be what I would desire to consider myself, the representative of the 
virtues of the people, if I were not ready to make every sacrifice for them, rather 
than to give the least sanction to human slavery. 

They say that the slaves are worse treated, since the cry of the Abolitionists 
has been raised in their favor, as it has made their masters more suspicious of 
them, and more severe against them ; but has that any weight with me .'' How 
often was I told, during our agitation, that 'the Catholics would be emancipated 
but for the violence of that O'Connell.' [Laughter.] Why, one of the clev- 
erest men in tlie country wrote a pamphlet in 1827, in which he stated that the 
Protestants of Ireland would have emancipated their Catholic countrymen long 
before, but for me, and fellows of my kind ; and yet, two years after, I got 
emancipation in spite of them. [Cheei's.] But it is clearly an insult to the 
understanding to speak so. When did tyranny relax its gripe merely because 
it ought to do so ? [Hear.] As long as there was no agitation, the masters 
enjoyed the persecution of their slaves in quietness ; but the moment the agi- 
tation commenced, they cried out, 'Oh, it is not the slaves we are flogging, but 
we are flogging through his back the anti-slavery men.' [Laughter.] But the 
subject is too serious for ridicule. I am afraid they will never give up slavery 
until some horrible calamity befalls their country ; and I here warn them 
against the event, for it is utterly impossible that slavery can continue much 
longer. [Hear, hear.] But, good Heaven ! can Irishmen be found to justify, 
or rather to palliate, (for no one could dare attempt to justify,) a system which 
shuts out the book of human knowledge, and seeks to reduce to the condition 
of a slave, 2,500,000 human beings ; — which closes against them not only the 
light of human science, but the rays of divine revelation, and the doctrines 
which the Son of God came upon the earth to plant. The man who will do so 
belongs not to my kind. [Hear, hear.] Over the broad Atlantic I pour forth 
my voice, saying, 'Come out of such a land, you Irishmen ; or, if you remain, 
and dare countenance the system of slavery that is supported there, we will 
recognize you as Irishmen no longer.' [Hear, hear, and cheers.] .... 

I say the man is not a Christian, — he cannot believe in the binding law of 
the Decalogue. He may go to the chapel or the church, and he may turn up 
the whites of his eyes, but he cannot kneel as a Christian before his Creator, 
or he v/ould not dare to palliate such an infamous system. No, America! the 
black spot of slavery rests upon your star-spangled banner; and no matter 
what glory you may acquire beneath it, the hideous, damning stain of slavery 



44 

rests upon you, and a just Providence will sooner or later avenge itself for your 
crime. [Loud and continued cheers.] Sir, I have spoken the sentimenis of the 
Repeal Association. [Renewed clieers.] There is not a man amongst the 
hundreds of thousands that belong to our body, or amongst the millions that 
will belong to it, who does not concur in what I have stated. We may not get 
money from America after this declaration ; but even if we should not, ive do not 
ivant blood-stained money. [Hear, hear.] If they make it the condition of our 
sympathy, or if there be implied any submission to the doctrine of slavery on our 
part, in receiving their remittances, let them cease sending it at once. But there 
are wise and good men every where, and there are wise and good men in 
America, — and that document which you have read, Sir, is a proof, among 
others, that there are; and I would wish to cultivate the friendship of such 
men; but the criminals and the abettors, — those who commit, and those who 
countenance the crime of slavery, — I regard as the enemies of Ireland, and I desire 
to have no sympathy or support from them. [Cheers.] 

I have the honor to move that this document be inserted in full upon our 
minutes, and tiiat the most grateful thanks of the Repeal Association be given 
to the Anti-Slavery Society of America who sent it to us, and in particular, to 
the two office bearers, whose names are signed to it. 

At a meeting of the Loyal National Repeal Association, in Dublin, August 8, 
1843, Mr. O'Connell, in the course of a powerful anti-slavery speech, said — 

A disposition was evinced in America to conciliate the opinion of that Associ- 
ation in favor of the horrid system of slavery, but they refused, of course, to sho\v 
any sanction to it. (Hear and cheers.) 

He had taken an active part in the Anti-Slavery Society from the moment 
that he was competent to discover any one body of men acting for the extinc- 
tion of slavery all over the world ; and standing in that Association as the rep- 
resentative of the Irish people, who had themselves suffered centuries of perse- 
cution, because they were attached to humanity, and to Avhat justice and reason 
demanded ; for if they had chosen to be silent, and had boived to authority — if they 
had acquiesced in the dictates of their masters and tyrants, they ivould have escaped 
mamj temporary sufferings, but they woidd not have acquired the glory of having 
adhered loith religious fidelity to their principles. Standing as their representa- 
tive, he could not act otherwise than he had done, though the liberty of Ireland, 
the repeal of the Union itself, ivere to abide the result. He ivas bound not to look 
to consequences, but to justice and humanity ; and come what would, he did not 
hesitate to throw heart and soul into his opposition to the system that would 
treat human beings as brute beasts of the field. He spoke distinctly and em- 
phatically, for as he wanted to make an impression, he used harsher words than 
he would have done, if he did not know that harsh words were necessary to 
rouse the selfish temperament of the domineering master of slaves. And he 
did make that sensation, and he was glad of it. 

At a meeting of the Loyal National Repeal Association, held in Conciliation 
Hall, Dublin, Sept. 29th, 1845, Mr. O'Connell, speaking on the subject of 
American slavery, said — 

I have been assailed for attacking the American institution, as it is called, 
negro slavery. I am not ashamed of that attack — I do not shrink from it. I am 
the advocate of civil and 7-eligious liberty all over the globe, and tcherever tyranny 
exists, I am the foe of the tyrant ; loherever oppression shotvs itself, I am the foe of 
the oppressor ; wherever slavery rears its head, I am the enemy of the system, or the 
institution, call it by what name you will — (great cheering.) I am the friend of 
liberty in every clime, class, and color — my sympathy with distress is not con- 



45 

fined within the narrow bound of my own green island — no, it extends itself to 
every corner of the earth — my heart walks abroad, and wherever the miserable is 
to be succored, and the slave is to be set free, there my spirit is at home, and I 
delight to dwell in its abode — (enthusiastic cheering.) It has been asked. What 
business has O^Connell in interfering ivith American slavery"} Why, do not the 
Americans show us their sympathy for our struggles, and why should we not 
show a sympathy in efforts for liberty amongst tliemselves? (Cheers.) But 1 
confess I have another strong reason for desiring to abolish slavery in America. 
In no monarchy on the face of the earth is there such a thing as domestic slavery ; 
it is true, in some colonies belonging to monarchies, slavery exists; but in no 
European country is there slavery at all — for the Russian serf is far different 
from the slave of America, and therefore I do not wish that any lover of liberty 
should be able to draw a contrast between the democratic republics of America 
and the despotic States of Europe — [hear, hear.] I am in favor of the demo- 
cratic spirit, and I wish to relieve it from the horror of slavery — [cheers.] I 
do not wish to visit America with force and violence. — I would be the last man 
in the world to consent to it. I would not be for making war to free the negro 
— at least, not for the war of knife, and lash, and sword ; but I would be for the 
moral warfare — I would be for the arms of argument and humanity to procure 
the extinction of tyranny, and to hurl contempt and indignation on those who 
call themselves freemen, and yet keep others in slavery. I would bring ele- 
ments of that kind to bear upon the system, until the very nam.e of slavery 
should be regarded with horror in the republic of America — [cheers.] * * * * 

In the year '2.5, when I left my profession and went over to England, there 
was an anti-slavery meeting, at which I attended and spoke; and afterwards, 
when I went to Parliament, another meeting was appointed, greater in magni- 
tude. The West India interest was 27 strong in the House of Commons — the 
Algerine bill was carried through the House by a majority of 19 — therefore, 
the emancipation bill was in the power of the West India interest ; but when 
they sent a respected friend of mine — the Knight of Kerry — to me, to ask why 
I did not take a certain course with regard to it, what was my answer? I rep- 
resent the Irish people here, and I will act as the Irish people will sanction. 
Come liberty, come slavery to myself, I tvill never countenance slavery, at hom^ or 
abroad! [Cheers.] I said I came here on principle ; the Irish people sent me 
here to carry out their principles; their principles are abhorrent of slavery ; and, 
therefore, I will take my part at that anti-slavery meeting; and though itshoidd 
be a blow against Ireland, it is a blow in favor of human liberty, and I will strike 
that blow — (cheers). So far was I from cultivating the slavery interest, that I 
adopted that course, though I regretted to lose their votes. But I must do 
them the credit to say, that I did not lose them. They acted nobly, and said 
they would not revenge upon Ireland my attack upon them. [Cheers.] * * * 
Let them blame me — in America let me be execrated by them — let their sup- 
port be taken from Ireland — Slavery, I denounce you wherever you are — [loud 
cheers.] Come freedom, come oppression to Ireland — let Ireland be as she may — 
1 have my conscience clear before my God — [continued cheers.] * * » 

They were told that the speech he made in that room would put an end to 
the remittances from America, and that the Americans would not again con- 
tribute to the funds of the Association. If they should never get one shilling 
from America, his course was plain, his path ivas obvious. He was attached to 
liberty ; he was the uncompromising hater of slavery wherever it was to be 
found [cheers]. 

Such was the spirit of an O'Connell — brave, ingenuous, disdaining 
every trammel, scorning every bribe, soaring above all national and all 
personal considerations ! — " I do not hesitate to declare my opinions. I 



46 

never faltered in my own sentiments. We might have shrunk from the 
question of American slavery, but I would consider such a course 
unworthy of me. We may not get money from America after this 
declaration ; but we do not want blood-stained money. Those xvlio com- 
mit, and those who countenance the crime of slavery^ I regard as the ene- 
mies of Ireland^ and I desire to have no sympathy or support from them. 
I am not bound to look to consequences, but to justice and humanity. 
Wherever slavery rears its head, I am the enemy of the system. I will 
take my part in the anti-slavery meeting ; and though it shoidd he a 
hloio against Ireland, it is a blow in favor of human liberty, and I 
WILL STRIKE THAT BLOW. In America, let them execrate me — let their 
support he taken from Ireland — slavery, I denounce you, wherever you 
are ! Come .freedom, come slavery to Ireland — let Ireland he as she 
may — I have my conscience clear before my God." These are noble 
sentiments, and most faithful was O'Connell to his pledge. His love 
for Ireland was not less strong than yours for Hungary ; but, unlike 
you, he disdained to act a deceptive and pusillanimous part, to secure 
foreign sympathy and aid in her behalf. Blush at your own craven and 
selfish policy, as contrasted with that pursued by Ireland's distinguished 
Liberator ! 

So much for the spirit of the sire. Now witness how closely akin to 
it is that of the son ! 

Extract from a speech delivered by John O'Connell, M. P., at a meeting of the 
Loyal National Repeal Association, held in Dublin, Nov. 23d, 1840 : — 

He had to perform a duty which he had imposed upon himself, and a duty in 
which he was sure he would have their concurrence that he ought to discharge, 
to bring before the Association the atrocities practised upon the miserable 
slaves in the United States of America. He was of opinion they would think 
he ought to discharge it, because it was right that QJ^ ivhen putting fonvard 
their claims to hecome^'a nation, they should be able to put forth a claim upon 
this ground also, that they had shown their sympathy fob the slaves. 

[Here Mr. O'Connell read to the meeting several cases of slaveholding bar- 
barity in America.] 

He thought when he produced such details of atrocity as these, he would be 
acquitted of the charge of bringing forward a subject Avhich Avas not well 
worthy the attention of the Association. Nothing could be more 
shameful — nothing more unjust — nothing more cruel — nothing more atrocious 
and demoralizing — than the treatment of the black slaves in America, while the 
people boasted of their adhesion to universal liberty. But, not only did they 
suffer such enormities to be perpetrated against slaves, but against free prople 
also. In the northern States, where slavery did not exist, the free people of 
color were subject to the greatest indignities. In the railway trains, there were 
separate places for them ; in the churches, they were not permitted to sit in the 
same pews ; nay, in the grave yards, (for they carried their dislike and con- 



47 

tempt for the negro even there, where one would suppose all distinctions should 
cease,) there were separate places for the interment of negroes. (Hear.) And yet 
the country which did this called itself free. He alluded to this matter at pres- 
ent, because the American journals which arrived that day had brought intelli- 
gence that the Irish in America, and their descendants, were joining in the 
rally for repeal, and that meetings had been held, at which subscriptions were 
collected to aid the objects of that Association. (Cries of ' hear, hear,' and 
cheers.) Every testimony of sympathy in tlieir struggles was grateful to their 
feelings ; and it was delightful to know, that, among the new associations which 
Irishmen formed in other lands, they and their descendants were not forgetful 
of the older associations they had left at home. (Hear hear.) But while they 
hold out to us the hand of brotherhood, we tell them that they come from a 
suspected land, — a land that holds man in bondage; and if they have any con- 
nection with, or if they approve of that bondage, then {j^ WE REJECT 
THEIR PROFFER: we have neither kindred nor sympathy for them, if they 
participate in the most degrading, demoralizing, wicked, and atrocious system 
which ever Avas maintained by man. (Hear, hear.) Talk of freedom, indeed! 
they spurned their association, if they had any thing to do with this system, — 
nay, if they were passive observers of the atrocity; for, if it was incumbent 
upon this nation to express their abhorrence at what they did not themselves 
witness, it was doubly incumbent upon those who were witnesses of it, to 
oppose the system, and to TAKE PART WITH THE ABOLITIONISTS. 
If they did not take part against the system, they were equally culpable with 
those who upheld it. (Hear, hear.) Therefore, if they wish us to receive their 
aid and sympathy, LET THEM JOIN WITH THE ABOLITIONISTS ; 

if not, WE SHALL REJECT AND REFUSE ALL CONNEXION WITH THEM. (Hear, 

hear.) It has been attempted to mix up Catholicity with the system, and the 
name of a distinguished individual in the southern States had been alluded to. 
But he would not now speak of him more than to express a hope, that the alle- 
gation was untrue; but there was no one who knew what Catholicity was, that 
did not know, not only that its tenets did not allow of slavery, but proclaimed 
that it was criminal in those who had any participation in the system. (Hear, 
hear, and loud cheers.) 

Reply of John O'Connell, Esq., M. P., to a letter from James Haughton, Esq. 

30, Merrion Square, 27th Jan. 1842. 

My Dear Sir: — I beg to assure you, and the other gentlemen of the Com- 
mittee, that there is no abatement of zeal on the part of the Repeal Association 
in the blessed cause of negro freedom. You would have easily seen this, had 
you been at our meeting of Monday week, when my father alluded, in strong 
terms, to slavery in America, and met the warmest approbation of the assem- 
bly. The most effectual means, too, of spreading abroad the knowledge and 
the detestation of that hideous system have been taken, by the collection 
together, by order of the Association, of all the extracts I read at former meet- 
ings on the subject of negro slavery, Avith a view to publish them in the form of 
a report, and to distribute them ivith our reports. I have prepared a short intro- 
duction to be prefixed to these extracts, and I think you will find it to speak the 
Association's sentiments as to slavery, in terms not to be mistaken. * * * 

/ trust we noio stand acquitted of the charge, that our ' cry for liberty is a 
mere selfish affair.'' We do not and did not deserve this charge. Our warmest 
exertions are ready to be given, and, whenever the occasion offers, are given, 
freely and heartily, to every movement in favor of the liberty and happiness of any 
and all the branches of the universal family of man. If we have been more 
before the public in our particular character as Repealers of the legislative 
union between England and Ireland, it is because our first duty is to our native 
land ; but, we have never refused nor neglected an opportunity of raising our voices 



48 

in support and vindication of the rights of others ; and one of the strongest 
incitements that we have to labor for the restoration of our country's legislative 
independence is, that hers will then be the potential voice of a nation, and no 
longer the unheeded cry of a mendicant province, upraised in the cause of lib- 
erty and of Christianity. 

I remain, my dear sir, ever faithfully yours, 

John O'Connell. 
Jaraes Haughton, Esq. 

Be careful to observe, that neither the elder nor the younger O'Con- 
nell spoke merely their ow^n sentiments, but they also spoke for all Ire- 
land — for eight millions of their own countrymen, in a state of almost 
unequalled physical suffering. " It was right " — nobly did they say — 
" that, when putting forward their claims to become a nation, they should 
be able to put forth a claim upon this ground also, that they had shoion 
their sympathies for the slaves.'''' With you, they say — " Our first duty 
is to our native land " ; but, they proudly add, what it is not now in 
your power to declare — " We have never refused nor neglected an op- 
portunity of raising our voices in support and vindication of the rights 
of others" — even of the American slaves, across the wide Atlantic ! 
Surely, such a people deserve to be free and independent ! 

But they go further. They tell the millions of their countrymen who 
have migrated to America, that, if they have any connection with sla- 
very, " we have neither kindred nor sympathy for them — we reject their 
proffered assistance." Nay, " if they are passive observers of the 
atrocity, we spurn their association." Nay, more — " if they wish us to 
receive their aid and sympathy, let them join with the aholitionists ; if 
not, we shall reject and refuse all connection with them ; for it is doubly 
incumbent upon those who are witnesses of it, to oppose the demoraliz- 
ing and atrocious system." 

Sir, the analogy between the condition and aim of Hungary and Ire- 
land, if defective in some particulars, is sufficiently close to warrant the 
presentation of it as an argument and an illust]*ation. " Ireland for 
Ireland," was the watchword of O'Connell. " Hungary for Flun- 
gary," is yours. In other words, let each nation manage its own affairs, 
without foreign intervention. In the opinion of O'Connell, the Repeal 
of the Union which subjugated Ireland to England was as essential to 
the full development of Ireland, as the overthrow of the house of Haps- 
burg is deemed by you indispensable to the freedom and prosperity of 
Hungary. But there is this difference : he acted upon principle — you 
are inspired by a sentiment : to save Ireland, he would not consent to 
be gagged upon any subject — to subserve the interests of Hungary, you 



49 

are willing not only to wear a padlock upon your lips, but to eulogize, 
as the special champions of liberty, those who require you to be 
silent ! (1) 

There are those who seek to justify your non-committal policy on the 
subject of American slavery. They say — 

That you are here on a special mission, to the promotion of which, 
every thing else may justifiably give place : 

That what you have done and suffered for Hungary should satisfy the 
most skeptical as to your abhorrence of oppression in every clime : 

That your speeches are imbued with the warmest feelings of human- 
ity, and abound with the noblest sentiments of liberty — and these should 
suffice : 

That the freedom of Hungary will give to American slavery, as well 
as to European despotism, a fatal blow, and therefore that it should absorb 
all your powers : 

That to express any sympathy for the anti-slavery movement, or any 
surprise or regret at the existence of slavery, in this country, would be 
sure to create an intense excitement, beneath the fiery billows of which, 
all " material aid" for Hungary would instantly disappear : hence, the 

(1) " Kossuth has sacrificed the cause of liberty itself. He has consented to praise a nation 
whose liberty is a sham. He has consented to praise the nation which tramples Mexico under 
foot. He has consented to praise her, that he might save Hungary. Then rate him at his 
right price. The freedom of twelve millions bought the silence of Louis Kossuth for a year. 
A world in the scale never bought the silence of O'Conuell or Fayette for a moment That is 
just the difierence between him and them. O'Conuell, (I was told the anecdote by Sir Thomas 
Fowell Buxton,) in 1829, after his election to the House of Commons, was called upon by the 
West India interest, some fifty or sixty strong, who said, " O'Conuell, you have been accus- 
'^omed to act with Clarkson and Wilberforce, Lushington and Brougham, to speak on the 
platform of Freemasons' Hall, and advocate what is called the abolition cause. Mark this! 
If you will break loose from these associates, if you will close your mouth on the slave ques- 
tion, you may reckon on our undivided support on Irish matters. Whenever your country's 
claims come up, you shall be sure of fifty votes on your side." "No!" said 0"Connell, "let 
God care for Ireland ; I will never shut my mouth on the slave question to save her ! " [Loud 
cheers.] He stood with eight millions whom he loved ; he stood with a peasantry at his back, 
meted out and trodden under foot as cruelly as the Magyar ; he stood with those behind him, 
who had been trampled under the horses' feet of the British soldiery in 1782 and 1801 ; he 
knew the poverty and wretchedness, he knew the oppressions under which the Irish groaned ; 
but never, for a moment, would he consent to lift Ireland— whose woes, we may well suppose, 
weighed heavily on the heart of her greatest son— by the sacrifice of the freedom of any other 
portion of the race. " When," said the friend who told me this anecdote, in conclusion, 
" when there were no more than two or three of us in the House of Commons, O'Connell 
would leave any court or any meeting to be present at the division, and vote on our side." 
That is the type of a man who tries, by its proper standard, the claim of all classes upon his 
sympathy. He did for Ireland all that God had enabled him to do ; but there was one thing 
which God had not called upon him to do, and that was, to speak a falsehood or to belie his 
convictions. He did not undertake to serve his country by being silent when he knew he 
ought to speak, or speak in language that should convey a false impression to his hearers." 
—[Speech of Wendell Phillips, Esq., at tht National Anti-Slavery Bazaar, 

7 



50 

middle course is the safe one — to avoid Scylla on the one hand, and 
Charybdis on the other : 

That, if you were to give your countenance to any particular reform 
among us, you would be called upon to endorse every other — and thus 
the cause of Hungary would be inextricably entangled and mixed 
up with foreign or collateral issues, to its inevitable injury : 

That you are managing your cause with consummate tact and judg- 
ment, and in the best manner to secure the glorious end in view, the 
freedom of all Europe : 

That it is not to be supposed that you understand the nature or extent 
of our slave system, or its relations to the government, and therefore 
you ought not to be blamed, but rather commended, for declining to 
express any opinion upon the subject : 

That you are acting in perfect consistency with the doctrine which 
you have constantly enforced as the safe rule of conduct — to wit, that 
it is for the people of every nation to manage their own affairs, without 
dictation, intermeddling, or influence from any other quarter — &c., 
&,c., &c. 

Such are the pleas made in your behalf. Doubtless, they embody 
the substance of your justification, as it lies in your own mind. Cer- 
tainly, they are not destitute of plausibility. Let us briefly examine 
them in detail, and see whether they are conclusive. 

I. It is conceded that you have a special work to perform, a cherished 
object to accomplish, of no small magnitude, in coming to these shores ; 
and that it would be equally impertinent and unfair to seek to divert you 
therefrom, by committing you to any party issue or purely local interest. 
But in what form do you present yourself ? Is it not as a penniless, 
homeless fugitive from oppression ? Is it not as a sincere and earnest 
advocate of liberty ? Do you not appeal to us for sympathy and " ma- 
terial aid" on the broad principles of absolute justice, in the spirit of a 
common brotherhood, and by all the claims of suffering humanity ? 
Read your own words : — " The fact is clear, that the despotisms are 
leagued against the freedom of the world, [not merely of Hungary,] so 
that there is no hope against them but in the brotherhood of people, 
headed and protected by England and the United States of America." 
Again : — " England and America ! do not forget, in your proud secu- 
rity, those who are oppressed ! Do not grant a charter to the Czar to 
dispose of humanity ! Do not grant a charter to despots to drown lib- 
erty in Europe's blood ! Save the myriads who would and will bleed ; 
and, by not granting this charter, be the liberators of the world ! " Do 



51 

you object to being measured by your own standard ? If you insist 
that it is the duty of the American people to remember the oppressed 
of Europe, is it impertinent to ask you not to forget the enslaved of 
America ? When you are seen to take men-stealers fraternally by the 
hand, and are heard to acknowledge them as the truest friends of liberty, 
" whose heart is easy to read, because it is open like nature," is such 
conduct to be allowed to pass without censure, because you have come 
to these shores on a " special mission ? " You aspire to be " the rep- 
resentative of that principel of liberty, which God has destined to be- 
come the common benefit of humanity." Why, then, do you shrink 
from applying that principle to the case of those who are clanking their 
chains on our soil ? You exultingly declare — " It is a glorious sight to 
see a mighty, free, powerful people come forth to greet with such a 
welcome the principle of freedom, even in a poor, persecuted, penniless 
exile !" But what have you to say of the spectacle of every sixth per- 
son held as a chattel among that same " mighty, free (!) and powerful 
people " ? In England, you were not thus tongue-tied. Respecting 
the anti-slavery associations of that country, you could speak in the 
following complimentary terms : — " These associations are bound up 
with much of the glory of England, because it was by them that every 
great principle was carried in that country, from the abolition of slavery 
down to free trade." This you were quite ready to say in a land where 
there were no slaves sighing for deliverance, no slaveholders needing to 
be rebuked for their tyranny ; evidently because you knew it would be 
a popular reference. But you have not the courage to bestow one word 
of approbation upon similar associations here, whose object, principles, 
doctrines and measures are essentially the same, and where the number 
retained in slavery is greater than the entire population of Scotland or 
New England ; and where your commendation would make a deep im- 
pression, and be of vital importance in the mighty struggle for universal 
emancipation. Alas ! you maintain a profound silence when you should 
lift up your voice in thunder tones ; you speak when and where your 
approving utterance is of no special value. But, for Hungary, every 
one is bound to become an advocate or actor ! For Hungary, all the 
burdens and horrors of a war conjointly with Austria and Russia should 
be cheerfully hazarded, because she is oppressed ! " May others shut 
their ears to the cry of oppressed humanity," you exclaim, " because 
they regard duties but through the glass of petty interests ; the Ameri- 
can people have that instinct of justice and generosity, which is the 
stamp of mankind's heavenly origin " ! Have they indeed ? How can 



52 

this be reconciled with the existence of slavery and the slave trade 
among them, to an unparalleled extent ? Despotic as Austria may be, 
she long since nobly decreed — " Every man, by right of nature, sanc- 
tioned by reason, must be considered a free person. Every slave be- 
co7nes free from the moment he touches the Austrian soil, or an Austrian 
ship." Compare this Decree with the Slave Code and the Fugitive 
Slave Bill of the United States, and then repeat in the hearing of an as- 
tonished world your truthless declarations — " Happy art thou, free na- 
tion of America, that thou hast founded thy house upon the only solid 
basis of a nation's liberty ! Thou hast no tyrants among thee, to throw 
the apple of Eros in thy Union ! " — Men, women, children, babes, con- 
stantly in the market for sale, but not a tyrant in all the land ! " Europe 
has many things to learn from America : it has to learn the value of 
free institutions, and the expansive power of freedom " ! Sir, your 
praise is the most biting satire. 

II. As to what you have done and suffered for Hungary, it proves 
how great has been your devotion to the liberties and interests of your 
own countrymen ; but it proves nothing more. Local patriotism, coura- 
geous and self-sacrificing to the last extremity, is no anomaly in human 
history. To prove that it is neither selfish nor exclusive, a world-wide 
test must be applied to it. " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" 
does not mean, " Thou, a Hungarian, shalt love every other Hungarian 
as thyself," and there terminate : the command is of universal obliga- 
tion. Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry as willingly peril- 
led life, character and property, in struggling to overthrow British 
oppression, as you and your compatriots have done in attempting to 
throw off Austrian usurpation ; yet, while they lived, they were slave- 
holders, and drew their sustenance, in part, from the unrequited toil, the 
tears and blood of their plundered vassals ; and thus were guilty of 
trampling upon the principles which they professed to hold sacred. The 
American revolutionists counted nothing dear to them in their struggle 
for independence ; yet, at that trying period, they held half a million of 
slaves in " a bondage, one hour of which was fraught with more misery 
than ages of that which they rose in rebellion to oppose " ; and their 
descendants are now enslaving three millions two hundred thousand, 
while holding it to be a self-evident truth, that all men are created equal ! 
It is one thing for a suffering and an oppressed people to combine for their 
own deliverance from a galling yoke ; it is quite another thing for them 
to be regardful of the rights of others. It is comparatively easy to be 
the leader of millions in arms, cheered by their approving voices, and 



53 

supported by their physical sti*ength ; but the case is altered when he who 
attempts to lead has few or none to follow him, — when those whose 
cause he advocates are unable to whisper a word of encouragement, — 
and when no turn of fortune promises station or popularity. The 
plea, therefore, that your patriotic efforts in Hungary have demonstrated 
your abhorrence of tyranny in every clime, is not valid, — especially as 
on this foreign soil you have been weighed in the balance, and found 
wanting, 

III. It is true, that your speeches abound with the noblest sentiments 
of liberty ; and these would suffice, if words were always acts, and 
were not as cheap as the air. But what falls from your lips, in praise 
of freedom, is precisely what the political demagogues and office-seek- 
ers here are continually using, but (like yourself) never applying. 
Nay, none surpass the slaveholders of the South in their rhetorical 
flourishes against despotism, and in favor of the rights of man. In a 
recent number of the St. Louis (Ky.) Times, the following definition of 
Democracy was published in terms of commendation : 

" Democracy is a sentiment not to be appalled, corrupted, or compromised. 
It knows no baseness, it cowers to no danger, it oppresses no loeakness. Destruc- 
tive only of despotism, it is the sole conservator of liberty, labor and property. 
It is the sentiment of freedom, of equal rights, of equal obligations — the law 
of nature pervading the law of the land." 

In the same number of the Times, the following, with other similar 
advertisements, appeared : — 

Cash for Negroes. — The highest price will be paid in cash for negroes, 
on application to the undersigned, stating age, &c. 

MOORE & PORTER. 

At Philadelphia, Judge Kane, fresh from the court before which, es- 
timable citizens were on trial on the charge of treason, because they 
would give no co-operation in slave-catching, could attend your banquet, 
and unblushingly offer the following sentiment : — 

" The cause of human freedom throughout the world ! Its enemies are the 
same every where, and why should not its allies be the same ? " 

He affected to believe that your " advent upon our shores was indica- 
tive of a new era, not only in the history of this country, but of the 
world " — and as though inspired by the noblest feelings for all man- 
kind, he added, " The duties of man, originally bounded by the home- 
stead, afterwards expanding around the social circle, had now a wider 



54 

orbit than the country in which it pleased God to give him birth. 
Where there icas a man, there man has found a brother." A most senti- 
mental slave-catcher ! 

Presiding at the banquet given to you in Philadelphia, Hon. George 
M. Dallas could readily taunt Prussia with being " a vast barbaric em- 
pire," and say — " Her structure, her policy, her cunning, her supersti- 
tion, are inherently and irreconcilably adverse to human progress 
rights and happiness." He could pathetically allude to your case, and 
ask — " Why, when wandering a defenceless exile from strand to strand, 
far separated from the sustaining sympathies of country, race, and 
home, does inexorable tyranny, with agitated eye, follow his track — 
while its poisoned arrows of defamation are furtively shot in advance to 
obstruct his progress, or to deaden his appeals ? " He could talk of 
" Despotism writhing like the huge reptile under the darts of Apollo, 
unconsciously recognizing the might, the majesty of Liberty." Yet, of 
all the Northern sycophants of the Slave Power, no one has more 
basely bowed the knee than himself. It is not long since he wrote to 
a Southern slaveholder, approving an alteration in the Constitution of 
the United States, so as to give ample security to the slave system 
against the growing spirit of freedom at the North ! While, sir, in your 
case, he can express sympathy with " a wandering and defenceless 
exile," whose track is followed by " inexorable tyranny," no one is more 
eager than himself for the recapture of every fugitive slave who en- 
deavors to find a hiding-place at the North ! 

Under the Fugitive Slave Law, already several victims have been 
seized and hurried from the soil of Pennsylvania, back to galling chains 
and a frightful servitude. That State is the " keystone of the arch " of 
the slave system, at least as far as the North is concerned. In no other 
non-slaveholding State is there less sympathy with the anti-slavery move- 
ment. Yet in your speech in Philadelphia, you could say — " The lib- 
erty of this land was not only proclaimed, but also achieved. You stand 
a proud, a mighty nation, unparalleled in history. But there is one 
word of that prophecy unfulfilled, and that word is — all — proclaim 
liberty to all the land. Now, as there is one Father only in heaven, 
and as there is one mankind only on earth ; so all that prophecy cannot 
be fulfilled until other nations are at least, if not so glorious, yet as free 
and independent as you." The adroitness with which you overlook our 
slave population, and apply the command, " Proclaim liberty throughout 
all the land, u7ito all the inhabitants thereof^ to " other nations," in- 
stead of giving it a true and natural rendering, is equally palpable and 



65 

significant. In desiring that " other nations" may be as free as ours, 
practically you ask that every sixth person of their entire population 
may be made a slave, for whose deliverance it shall be deemed a fac- 
tious and criminal act to plead ! And this, you declare, constitutes a 
a basis on which we have " founded a building of human freedom, and 
of the development of the human intellect, and of civilization, prouder, 
loftier than that which humanity before you ,has beheld through five 
thousand years" ! Sir, something more is needed, in this country, than 
glowing generalities, to prove a man to be true to the cause of human 
liberty, without regard to complexion or clime. 

IV. To the plea, that, by securing freedom for Hungary, you will 
give a powerful blow to slavery in America, it may be replied — first, 
even if this should follow, (which is to beg the question,) nothing can 
justify shuffling and double-dealing, unmerited panegyric, the substitu- 
tion of falsehood for the truth ; secondly, that it is paradoxical to talk of 
doing the best thing that can be done for your unhappy countrymen, 
and for the chattel slaves of this land, by striking hands in amity with 
the advocates and upholders of slavery ; thirdly, that if the slave power 
of America has cause to dread your success in Hungary, then, in com- 
ing to this country for " material aid," you are convicted of extreme 
folly, — and in trying to propitiate that power, you are guilty of gross 
duplicity ; and, finally, that the truth is, instead of the liberated Hunga- 
rian striking the chains from the limbs of the American slave, the exist- 
ence of slavery in this republic is the all-sustaining prop of European 
absolutism, and the mightiest obstacle to the progress of liberty through- 
out the world. 

V. The excuse for your silence on the subject of slavery, (so gravely 
reiterated as a full justification,) that, if you were to avow your real 
sentiments, you would excite general alarm and indignation, and quench 
every spark of sympathy for Hungary, it must be confessed, embodies 
a terrible truth ; but, instead of relieving you from censure, it deepens 
your criminality. It shows how absolute is the sway of the slave power 
over this whole nation ; it is a confession, that there is no substance in 
the welcome that you are receiving (as you flatter yourself ) as " the 
representative of that principle of liberty which God has destined to be- 
come the common property of humanity " ; and, with this consciousness 
of the delicacy of your position, it renders disgusting and intolerable 
your endless encomiums of the United States as " the land of protec- 
tion for the persecuted sons of freedom among the great brotherhood of 
nations — great, glorious, and free" — &c., &c. Sir, what will posterity 



56 

think of you ? You, a homeless and penniless fugitive, but refusing to 
manifest any sympathy for the fugitives from an incomparably worse 
than Austrian despotism! You, " a humble petitioner, with no other 
claims than those which the oppressed have to the sympathy of free- 
men," but deterred from acknowledging the superior claims of the 
American slave, who is supplicating for mercy ! You, who profess to 
see in our " star-spangled banner, the proud ensign of mankind's divine 
origin," but afraid to cast a glance of commiseration at the millions 
whose " divine origin " is practically denied under that banner ! You, 
who make the act of your liberation, *' the revelation of the fact, that 
the United States are resolved not to allow the despots of the world to 
trample on oppressed humanity," but dare not in the United States say 
'ausht asainst the traffic " in slaves and the souls of men " ! And all 
this, to promote the interests of your own countrymen, whose condition 
is one of comparative freedom and happiness ! 

" The cause of the solidarity of human rights," which you have 
come " to plead before the great republic of the United States," is not 
Hungarian, but universal. A people who aim or desire to be saved at 
the expense, or to the detriment of any other, is undeserving of salva- 
tion. This land is too full of compromisers and trimmers, to need your 
presence to teach us how to do evil, that good may come. What we 
need, what the world demands, is, an illustrious example of fidelity to 
the principles of liberty, in their application not merely to one but to all 
races and lands. You cannot be too true to Hungary ; but you ought 
not, for her sake, to be false to America — and false you will be, if you 
fail to rebuke her for her atrocious system of slavery. The fact, that 
her soil is stained with blood, that there is no other institution to which 
she clings with so much tenacity as to that of slavery, that your welcome 
depends upon your silence where even the very stones should cry out, 
that the universal sympathy which is expressed for your oppressed 
countrymen would instantly be turned to rage, and thus proved to be 
spurious — this fact alone would make you faithful and fearless, in- 
stead of timid and parasitical, if " God, the Almighty," had selected 
you " to represent the cause of humanity " before us. 

VI. As there is, in reality, only one reason for your turning a deaf 
ear to the cry of imbruted humanity umong us, — and that is, an appre- 
hension of exciting popular displeasure, — it is idle to pretend that you 
are compelled to take this course, to avoid being mixed up with a multi- 
tude of extraneous matters that would otherwise be pressed upon your 
consideration. The case of millions deprived of personal liberty, and 



67 

subjected to all the mutations of property, is too distinct and too awful 
to be put into the same categoiy with the question of tariff, or free trade, 
or the extension of suffrage, or the distribution of the public lands, or 
social re-organization, or national independence, or non-intervention, or 
any other question relating to individual advancement or the general 
welfare. In every land, men differ — widely and honestly differ — in 
their views respecting the science of political economy, and the best 
form of government, whether for transient or permanent adoption. But, 
as to chattelizing those upon whom the Creator has stamped his own 
image, " the same verdict has always been rendered — ' Guilty !' — the 
same sentence has always been pronounced — ' Let it be accursed !' — 
and human nature, with her million echoes, has rung it round the world 
in every language under heaven — ' Let it be accursed ! ' His heart 
is false to human nature, who will not say, ' Amen ! ' There is not 
a man on earth, who does not believe that slavery is a curse. Hu- 
man beings may be inconsistent, but human nature is true to herself. 
She has uttered her testimony against slavery with a shriek ever since 
the monster was begotten ; and till it perishes amidst the execrations of 
the universe, she will traverse the world on its track, dealing her bolts 
upon its head, and dashing against it her condemning brand. We re- 
peat it, every man knows that slavery is a curse. Whoever denies this, 
his lips libel his heart. Try him ! Clank the chains in his ears, and 
tell him they are for him ; give him an hour to prepare his wife and 
children for a life of slaver}^ ; bid him make haste, and get ready their 
necks for the yoke, and their wrists for the cofile chains ; then look at 
his pale lips and trembling knees, and you have nature's testimony 
against slavery." So isolated, therefore, is this from every other ques- 
tion that now awakens interest or excites agitation on our soil, that, 
whether you give a full and manly expression of your feelings, once for 
all, or only incidentally raise a condemnatory voice in regard to it, it will 
furnish no just occasion to extort from you an opinion on any question, 
however important, that is strictly local in its application. 

But, sir, if you are to be excused from taking one step here, in aid of 
suffering humanity, lest it may require others to be taken, terminating 
you know not where, then, certainly, it is not for you to insist on the 
cause of Hungary being espoused by this nation, at whatever hazard, 
and lead where it may ! If we should interpose, in any manner, to 
secure freedom and independence for the oppressed of your country, 
why not also for the oppressed of all other countries ? If we take the 
first step which you desire, who can predict what will be the entangle- 



58 

ments, troubles and calamities growing out of it ? What claims has 
Hungary upon us, that Poland, tiiat Italy, that British India, cannot as 
strongly and consistently urge ? Yet you will listen to no excuses ; you 
bid us see that justice is done, though the heavens fall ; you implore us 
not by inaction to " grant a charter to despots to drown liberty in Eu- 
rope's blood " ; and you base your appeal on the ground of universal 
humanity. Are you not condemned out of your own mouth ? 

VII. As to the tact displayed by you, in the management of your 
cause, it certainly indicates great worldly shrewdness. In England, you 
could eulogize the government, advocate free trade, and warmly com- 
mend the abolition of West India slavery as " bound up with much of 
the glory " of that country ; for this was sailing with both wind and tide. 
In the United States, your admiration is boundless for the Union, the 
Constitution, the Government, even the Mexican war, unparalleled for 
its turpitude, because waged expressly for the extension and perpetuity 
of slavery. All this is congenial with the popular taste. But as for 
free trade, the anti-slavery enterprise, &c., these are questions of " do- 
mestic policy " with which you cannot properly meddle, because they 
have not yet become victorious ! You will find, sir, in the end, that 
" honesty is the best policy," and that no amount of skilful diplomacy 
can be advantageously substituted for manly rectitude. Strive as you 
may to propitiate the slave power, by which this government is moulded 
and directed, it will be only to your own degradation, and without attain- 
ing the end you desire. 

VIII. The plea, that, in fairness, you must be supposed to know little 
or nothing intelligently about slavery in this country, and therefore are 
excusable for declining to express any opinion concerning it, is too shal- 
low to bear an examination. It is manifest that you need not any illu- 
mination whatever on the subject. You are not more distinguished for 
the fervor of your eloquence, than you are for your historical knowledge. 
Exhibhing, as you do, so familiar an acquaintance with American 
affairs, from the earliest period, it is preposterous to assume that you 
have yet to learn to what extent slavery is tolerated on our soil, or how 
far the nation, as such, is responsible for it. Before leaving the shores 
of England, (as has already been stated,) the information communica- 
ted to you, on this point, by philanthropic individuals and associations, 
was abundant. The excessive care you have taken, since your arrival 
here, to say and do nothing indicative of sympathy with our down- 
trodden bondmen, is proof not of your ignorance of their miserable 
condition, but that you perfectly understand how absolute and all perva- 



59 

ding is the power which grinds them to the dust ; and, consequently, how 
unpopular and perilous it is to plead their cause. Yet you have the 
assurance to say — " I am here on the free ground of free America. 
The United States number many millions of inhabitants, all attached 
with warm feelings to the princijyles of liberty " .' .' 

IX. If you are acting consistently with the course originally marked 
out by you, not to be identified with any movements among us, — and 
with the rule you have laid down, and so frequently referred to, that it 
is for the people of every nation to manage their own affairs, without 
any foreign intervention whatever, — it does not prove either the sound- 
ness of the rule or the wisdom of your conduct. For if the civil disa- 
bilities imposed upon your own countrymen are such as should excite 
the sympathy and elicit the remonstrances of other nations, surely the 
utter annihilation of the rights of millions on this boasted soil of free- 
dom justifies, nay demands, the indignant protest of every friend of 
liberty throughout the world. How far you think we ought to go, in 
behalf of Hungary, you frankly disclose in the following admission 
made in your speech at the dinner given to you by the New York Bar : — 

"But I 'may be answered — 'Well, if we (the United States) make such a 
declaration of non-admission of the interference of Russia in Hungary, (be- 
cause that is the practical meaning of the word ; I will not deny,) and Russia 
will not respect our declaration — then we might have to go to war.' And there 
is the rub. Well, I am not the man to decline the consequence of my princi- 
ples. I will not steal into your sympathy by slippery evasion. Yes, gentlemen, 
/ confess, should Russia not respect such a declaration of your country, then you 
are obliged, literally obliged, to go to war, or else be prepared to be degraded before 
mankind from your dignity. Yes, 1 confess that would be the case." 

For the relief, then, of those who are oppressed thousands of miles 
from us, it is our duty to interfere, sublimely indifferent to what may 
befall us, and at the risk of being " literally obliged to go to war" with 
the most formidable power on earth ! All this is very clear to you as a 
fugitive from oppression, and unquestionably proper for the relief of 
outraged Hungarians ! But when you are asked, on the ground of con- 
sistency, and by all the claims that suffering hnmanity can present, to 
" remember them that are in bonds " in this country " as bound with 
them," you affect to regard the call as impertinent, and declare that you 
have no right nor wish to exert any influence in their favor ! What 
makes your conduct the more extraordinary is, that, while you do not 
scruple to solicit of us " material aid " — i. e. money and arms — and to 
invoke us to run the risk of involving ourselves in a bloody revolution- 
ary struggle on European soil — you shrink from giving any counte- 



60 

nance, even of a moral kind, to a peaceful movement for the abolition 
of slavery in this country, the language of whose advocates is — " The 
principles of our revolutionary sires led them to wage war against their 
oppressors, and to spill human blood like water, in order to be free. 
Ours forbid the doing of evil that good may come, and lead us to reject, 
and to entreat the oppressed to reject, the use of all carnal weapons for 
deliverance from bondage. Their measures were physical resistance — ■ 
the marshalling in arms — the hostile array — the mortal encounter. 
Ours shall be such only as the opposition of moral purity to moral corrup- 
tion — the destruction of error by the potency of truth — the overthrow of 
prejudice by the power of love — and the abolition of slavery by the 
spirit of repentance." (1) 

But, sir, it is not true that you are pursuing a non-committal course, 
(even if, in your case, it were justifiable to do so,) on the question of 
American slavery. To say that " the language of liberty is the lan- 
guage of the people of the United States " ; that " the United States are 
resolved to become the protectors of human rights " ; that " it is your 
glorious country which Providence has selected to be the pillar of free- 
dom, as it is already the asylum to oppressed humanity " ; is not this to 
treat the enslavement of one sixth portion of our population With entire 
disregard, and to feed the self-complacency of their brutal oppressors ? 
To address, as the true friends of freedom, such men as Fillmoke, "Web- 
ster, Clay and Cass, — the great political props of the slave system, — 
is this to occupy neutral ground ? To come to a slave-breeding, slave- 
hunting government, like ours, as qualified to testify and act against 
Russian usurpation, — is this to pass no judgment upon our national char- 
acter, and to give it no endorsement ? To call slavery " a question of 
domestic policy,^' — to require of every Hungarian resident on our soil 
" non-interference " with it as a duty, and on pain of being branded as 
acting " injuriously to the interest of his own country," — is this not 
taking sides against the slave > To declare, over and over again, " I 
never did or will do any thing, which, in the remotest tcay, could inter- 
fere with the matter alluded to," [slavery,] — is not this to do the bidding 
of the slave power in the most effectual manner ? 

As to your theory of non-interference with the affairs of another 
country, it is essentially anti-christian and inhuman, as exemplified in 
your conduct among us ; for it strikes a blow at every foreign mission- 
ary enterprise, brands the venerable apostles of Christ as intermeddlers, 
and virtually repeals the command, " Go ye into all the word, and 

(1) Declaration of Anti-ISlavery Sentiments. 



61 

preach the gospel of freedom to every creature." To say or imply 
that, being a Hungarian, your right to assail despotism with moral 
weapons in any other portion of the world, terminates at the boundary 
line of Hungary, is to be guilty of a Jewish exclusiveness, and to adopt 
as valid the interrogation of Cain, " Am I my brother's keeper" ? 

You are now at the Seat of Government, in the city of Washington, 
the Capital of the United States. You have been introduced to Presi- 
dent Fillmore, and to both houses of Congress. In your address to the 
President, you say, " The star-spangled banner was seen casting its 
protection around me, announcing to the world there is a nation, alike 
powerful as free " — "cheered by your people's sympathy, so as free- 
men cheer, not a man lohatever, but a pkinciple " — and " may God, 
the Almighty, bless you with a long life, that you may long enjoy the 
happiness to see your country great, glorious and free, the corner-stone 
of international justice, and the column of freedom on the earth, as it is 
already an asylum to the oppressed" ! ! In your speech at the Congres- 
sional Banquet, you say : — 

" As once Cyneas, the Epirote, stood among the Senators of Rome, who, 
with an earnest v/ord of self-conscious majesty, controlled the condition of the 
world, and arrested mighty kings in their ambitious march; \.hus, full of admira- 
tion and reverence, I stand before you, legislators of the new capitol — that glo- 
rious hall of your people's collective majesty. The capitol of old yet stands, 
but the spirit has departed from it and come over to yours, purifed by the air of 
liberty. The old stands a mournful monument of the fragility of human things 
— yours as a sanctuary of eternal rights. The old beamed with the red lustre 
of conquest, now darkened by oppression's gloomy night — yours beams with 
freedom^ bright ray. The old absorbed the world by its own centralized glory — 
yours protects your own nation's absorption, even by itself. The old was awful 
with unrestricted pcwer — yours is glorious with having restricted it. At the 
view of the old, nations trembled — at the vieiv of yours, humanity hopes. To 
the old, misfortune was only introduced with fettered hands to kneel at the tri- 
umphant conqueror's heels — to yours, the triumph of introduction is granted to 
unfortunate exiles, invited to the honor of a seat. And where kings and Caesars 
never will be hailed, for their power, might, and wealth, there the persecuted 
chief of a down-trodden nation is welcomed as your great Republic's guest, 
precisely because he is persecuted, helpless and poor. In the old, the terrible 
VfB victis was the rule — in yours, protection to the oppressed, malediction to am- 
bitious oppressors, and consolation to the vanquished in a just cause. And while 
out of the old, a conquered world was ruled, you in yours provide for the com- 
mon confederative interests of a territory larger than the conquered world of 
the old. There sat men boasting their will to be the sovereigns of the world ; 
here sit men ivhose glory is to acknowledge the laivs of JVature and of JSfatwe^s 
God, and to do ivhat their sovereign, the people, ivills." 

Sir, more biting satire than this was never uttered ; yet you did not 
mean to be satirical. Language more at variance with the truth was 
never spoken. As a commentary upon it, let the following scenes^ 



62 

which have occurred in that Capital which you insist " beams with free- 
dom's bright ray," which is "the sanctuary of eternal rights," at "the 
view of which, humanily hopes," and in the legislative halls of which 
" sit men whose glory is to acknowledge the laws of Nature and of 
Nature's God," {vide the Slave Code of the District of Columbia (1) 
and the Fugitive Slave Bill !) as specimens of what has been constantly 
occurring therein for the last sixty years : — 

The Washington Union of July 3, 1845, contained an advertisement, 
offering for sale to the highest bidder, on the 13th of July, the following 
property, viz: 

" One negro woman, named Elizabeth, about the age of sixty years ; and 
one negro girl, named Caroline, about the age of twenty years — seized and 
levied upon as tlie property of Henry Miller, and sold to satisfy judicials. No. 
22, October term, 18i7, in favor of the Post Master General; also, judicials, 
Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, to June term, 1847, in favor of the United States, and 
against said Henry Miller. 

ALEXANDER HUNTER, 

Marshal of the District of Col" 

The National Era says : — 

" At the appointed time, the sale took place. Two women — a mother, aged 
about sixty, and a daughter of twenty — were sold hy the United States Marshal, 
to satisfy a United States claim; and the proceeds of the sale were deposited 
in the United States Treasury, in defraying the expenditures of the United 
States Government " ! ! ! 

Read the following statement from the Washington Spectator, of 
1830 :— 

" Let it be known to the citizens of America, that at the very time when the 
procession, which contained the President of the United States and his Cabinet, 
was marching in triumph to the Capital, another kind of procession was march- 
ing another way ; and that consisted of colored human beings, handcuffed in 
pairs, and driven along by what had the appearance of a man on liorseback ! A 
similar scene was repeated on Saturday last. A drove consisting of males and 
females, chained in couples, starting from Roly's tavern on foot for Alexandria, 
■where with others they are to embark on board a slave ship in waiting to convey 
them to the South." 

Take the testimony of the late Ex-President John Quincy Adabis, 
as given on the floor of Congress in 1838 : — 

" He (Mr. Pickens, of S. C.) does not know the crushing and destruction of 
all the tenderest and holiest ties of nature which this system produces, but which 

(1) "The old slave laws of Virginia and Maryland, marked by the barbarity of other days, 
form by Act of Congress the slave code of the District. Of this code, a single sample will suf- 
fice. A slave convicted of setting fire to a building shall have his head cut off, and his body 
divided into quartsrs, and the parts set up in the most public places ■' " — Judge Jat. 



63 

I have seen, tvith my own eyes, in ihis city of Washington. Twelve months have 
not passed since a -woman, in this District, was taken with her four infant chil- 
dren, and separated from her husband, who was a free man, to be sent away, I 
know not where. That woman in a dungeon in Alexandria, killed with her own 
hand two of her own children, and attempted to kill the others. The woman was 
asked how she could perpetrate such an act, for she had been a woman of un- 
blemished character and religious sentiments. She replied, that wrong had been 
done to her and to them, that she was entitled to her freedom, though she had 
been sold to go to Georgia ; and that she had sent her children to a belter 
world." 

Read the following advertisentient, and say whether St. Petersburg 
or Vienna can match it for atrocity — a woman and her babe thrust into 
the jail at Washington, by the United States Marshal, on suspicion of 
being runaways, and to be soldinto slavery, if not claimed, to pay their 
jail fees ! ! 

Notice. Was committed to the jail of Washington County, District of 
Columbia, as a runaway, a negro woman, by the name of Polly Leiper, and her 
infant child William. Says she was set free by John Campbell, of Richmond, 
(Va.) in 1818 or 1819. The owner of the above described woman and child, 
if any, is requested to come and prove them, and take them away ; or they will 
be sold for their jail fees, and other expenses, as the law directs. 

Tench Ringgold, Marshal. 

Washington, May 19, 1827. 

Here is another advertisement of a similar character : — • 

Notice. Was committed to the jail of Washington County, District of 
Columbia, on the 23d of July, 1847, as a runaway, a negro woman, who calls 
herself Ann E. Hodges. She is nearly black, about 5 feet 5 1-4 inches high, 
and about 22 years of age. Had on, when committed, a slate-colored merino 
dress, and a brown calico sun-bonnet. She says she is free, and served her 
time out with a Mr. Benjamin Daltry, of Southampton, Va. ; and that Messrs. 
Griffin & Bishop, of the same place, know her to be free. She has tivo scars 
on the left leg, near the knee, from the bite of a dog, one on her left tvrist, and one 
on the point of her breast-bone, occasioned by a burn. The owner or owners of 
the above described negro woman are hereby required to come forward, prove 
her, and take her away, or she xvill be sold for her prison and other expenses, as 

THE LAW DIRECTS. 

RoBT. Ball, Jailer, for 
A. Hunter, Marshal. (1) 
Washington, Aug. 23, 1847. 

(1) By the report of the committee on the District of Columbia, in 1829, it appears that, in 
three years, 179 human beings were, by the authority of the Federal Government, arrested in one 
county of the District, and committed to prison on no allegation of crime, but merely on sus- 
picion of being fugitive slaves! "The Marshal of the United States," says Judge Jay, " after 
deciding on the liberty or bondage of his prisoners, is allowed to take his fees in human flesh, 
and the condemned becomes the property of the very judge who sentenced him to servitude, 
and who carries him into the market, there to make out of him as much money as he can! 
• * * Thus to this judge the law offers a high and tempting bribe to sell men he knows to 
be free, and thus he becomes a manufacturer of slaves ! " In one instance, at least, Mr. Eing- 



64 

In 1846, a number of slaves attempted to escape from the District of 
Columbia, the Capital which " beams with freedom's bright ray," and 
is " the sanctuary of eternal rights," in the schooner Pearl, commanded 
bj Capt. Sayres, bound for a Northern port. The following is an 
account of their capture and treatment : — 

" It is as I expected : the poor negroes are taken, with captain, crew, vessel 
and alL This morning, as I left my boarding house, I saw coming from the 
street that leads to the landing, a long procession of colored people, and quite 
a number of soulless looking white men, marching in the direction of the 
Pennsylvania Avenue. I hastened to meet them, and as they came in front of 
the United States Hotel, the crowd became so dense that it was next to impos- 
sible for them to proceed. The captain and his crew were with them, with 
their hands manacled. As soon as the former became generally known to the 
crowd, the most intense excitement was manifested by the multitude. Oaths, 
that v.-ouId have made even devils tremble, were poured forth, and vengeance 
seemed to be depicted upon their countenances. ' Drag him out 1 ' cried some. 

' Knock his d —d brains out .' ' cried others. ' Shoot him ! shoot the hell-hound .' ' 

' Lay hold of him ! hanz the d d riUain 1 ' were some of the mildest epi- 
thets that were used by this fierce-looking band of pandemonium wretches. In 
the mean time, some of the ofncers came to the poor fellow's relief, and he was 
hastily put into a carriage, and driven to the jail. The procession then went 
on towards the jail of the district, and I hastened in advance to get a view of 
the whole. The men were tied together with ropes, by couples. Some of them 
were fine looking fellows, but their countenances wore an expression of sad- 
ness. There were about thirty women in the train, but these were permitted 
to march in double file, without being hand-cuffed or tied. Some of them 
carried babes, others led children, and many were weeping over their sad fate, 
while ever and anon the brutes who drove them would order them to hush their 
snivelling: and to make their order more imposing, would raise their cudgels 
over their heads, as if about to strike. As they entered the gate that opens 
into the jail, I counted them, and found there were ia ail eighty-five. Some 
were whiter than the wretches who had them in custody, and looked far more 
intellectual and worthy of liberty. The throng around the jail was immense, 
and I could hear the most bitter imprecations against the abolitionists and the 
abolition paper (National Era") of the District. 

The vessel in which they were taken, was boarded by the steamer at the 
mouth of the river, where she was lying at anchor for a favorable breeze to 
take them up the bay. As the steamboat hove in sight, the negroes wished to 
fight and defend themselves, but were not permitted to by the captain. They 
then suffered themselves to be quietly taken, and are in jail by virtue of laws 
sanctioned by the American Congress ; and you, sods of the Pilgrims, will be 
under the necessity of contributing your mite to sustain this system of oppres- 
sion. Oh I this is a glorious country. Let the star-spangled banner be flung 

gold's speculations appears not to have been very productive, having sold the victim for only 
S20. -while his jail fees amonnted to S>i S2. Xo reason is aligned for this nominal price. 
Very probably, it was a case similar to the one described by the Hon. Charles Miner, in his 
speech on the floor of the House of Eepresentatives, in 1S29. ■• In Angnst, 1S2I," said 3It. il., 
" a black man was taien np, and imprisoned as a ninaway. He was kept confined nntil Octo- 
ber. IS^. four hundred and five days. In this time, vermin, disease and misery had deprived 
him of the use of his limbs. He was rendered a cripple for life, and finally discharged, 
as no ont icoidd imy him.'" 



65 

to the breeze ; let peal3 of victory rend the heavens ; let cheers go up ; for sla- 
very has triumphed over liberty, the oppressed are retaken, and are nov/ in 
chains to await their doom. 

Ever since that period, Sayres and Drayton, the humane captain 
and mate of the vessel in which these poor victims attempted to make 
their escape, have been languishing in prison at Washington, and there 
is no prospect of their liberation ! 

Here is an incident which occurred in Washington, a few days before 
your advent in that city, as related by a correspondent of the Ashtabula 
(Ohio) Sentinel, — probably the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings : — 

" Yesterday, a servant man came to my room, saying a colored woman 
wished to speak with me. I told him to show her up. He soon returned with 
her. She was sobbing, and evidently in great agony of mind. I asked the 
cause of her grief. It was some time before she could so far compose her 
mind as to relate to me her misfortune; which consisted in living under the 
barbarous laws enacted by Congress for the government of this district. She 
said her husband had just been sold to a slave dealer, and taken to the bara- 
coons of Alexandria — that his purchaser was intending to take him to Alabama 
in two or three days, — that she had four children at home. At this point, she 
burst out into a loud expression of her grief. Her sobbings were interrupted 
occasionally with the exclamations of " Oh God ! Oh my dear children ! Oh 
my husband ! ' then appealing to me, ' Oh master, for God's sake do try to get 
back the father of my babes ! ' 

"I learned that her husband's name is George Tooman. His former owner 
is a female, named Martha Johnwood, living east of the capitol some half a 
mile. George went to work this morning in the barn, at husking corn, without 
any suspicion of the fate which awaited him. The slave dealer and an assist- 
ant came to the barn, seized him, placed handcuffs upon him, and hurried him 
off to the slave pen in Alexandria. 

" The woman hearing of it followed him here on foot, and returned, and then 
sought me in the vain hope that I should be able to assist her. The day is 
said by many to be the coldest known here for years, yet she has been exposed 
to the keen piercing winds, although I think she was thinly clad. She^had not 
seen her children since morning, when she left them without firewood. I en- 
deavored to soothe her feelings by expressing some faint hope that her husband 
might yet be redeemed — that 1 would make inquiry, and ascertain if I could 
tind some one who would repurchase him, and permit him to remain in the 
district. It was dark when she left my room to return to her home, rendered 
bitter by the fate of the husband and father. The cold winds rocked the 
building, and howled mournfully about the corners. I reflected upon the bar- 
barous law by which Congress has authorized and encouraged such crimes, and 
inflicted such misery upon the down-trodden of God's poor. ' I trembled for 
my country when I reflected that God was just, and that his justice will not 
sleep forever.' I asked myself the question, will Heaven permit such wicked- 
ness, such barbarous cruelty to go unpunished ? Yet Mr. Fillmore in his mes- 
sage advises Congress to abide by the Compromise as a final settlement of the 
slave question, and leave the colored women who are wives and mothers in 
this district to the operations of this savage law — would leave fathers here to 
be sold in the manner above related — leave children here to be robbed of their 
parents. And the Whig caucus resolve substantially that they will lend their 
aid to sustain this law, which would disgrace the tyrant of Austria, and would 
add a deeper infamy to Haynau, the butcher of the Hungarians. 

9 



66 

My feelings are too much excited on this subject to write coolly. I only 
■wish the men of Ashtabula county, who, since 184S, have unintentionally sus- 
tained by their voles and influence this slave trade, could have witnessed the 
tears, the horror of mind, the deep anguish of that woman's heart, that they 
could have heard her wailings,herejaculatory prayers for her children. Methinks 
they would not adhere to party dictation with so much devotion." 

Here is the testimony of the Hon. He.xky L. Ellsworth, for many 
years U. S. Commissioner of Patents at AVashington, in a speech deliv- 
ered by him at Lafayette, Indiana, in 184S : — 

" I have resided ten long years in a slave territory — the District of Columbia 
— the little spot the nation emphatically calls her own. Would to God that I 
could say slavery was not there ! But there it is, to greet the arrival of stran- 
gers attracted to the metropolis by business or curiosity. Yes, there it is in 
awful reality. In full sight of great legislators — near the Western gate of the 
capitol, and almost reached by its flag — the "Pen" is found, walled in and 
guarded, with manacles and handcuffs, the paraphernalia of a slave ship. There 
human beings are daily incarcerated and brought out for sale, first exposed 
and proved, like cattle, sound in wind and limb, and then ironed and driven to 
acclimate or die in the rice swamps, or on the sugar plantations of the South. 

Here, too, the dignitaries of the land, (who travel at 8 dollars for every 20 
miles.) come to stock their farms. 

Here, too, color is a crime ; one speck of African blood consigns the un- 
fortunate, if found at large, to the prison ; and if, as does occur, his passport or 
manumission is lost, he is sold to slavery again ! Those who have purchased 
their freedom live in constant fear of abduction. I have been awakened at 
the dead hour of night, by the supplication of a domestic, that I would save 
her sister, whom the men were carrying off". Knowing she was free, I went 
with a friend in search of the captive. We found her in custody of "two 
negro hunters," who showed an advertisement, S50 bounty ; they claimed her 
as a runaway ; she protested by her tears and assertions that she was not a 
slave. Force was threatened ; it would have been resisted at all hazards. A 
night of horror to this girl passed away. The light of day beamed upon the 
facts ; she was free, and proved it! How narrow her escape ! If carried far 
away, her lips sealed in silence, when would her rescue arrive ? At the grave ! 

Shall I tell you with what horror representatives at our court from foreign 
lands behold, at the seat of government, the exhibition of the principles of this 
free republic, where all men are by nature born equal! 

Even citizens of the District have not nerve to behold the execution of their 
wishes. Mothers are separated from their children, and the injunction not to 
put asunder what God has joined together, is despised and rejected. Slaves are 
sent on pretence of business, and when beyond the sound of shrieks and sup- 
plication, they are seized and borne away to the pen. 

Here it is that fathers sell their own children, and themselves rivet the man- 
acles of slavery for ever ! " 

Read and reflect upon the following revolting case, in the light of 
Christianity : — 

JFashington, .^ug. 12, 1851. 

A case of considerable interest came under my observation a few days since, 
which has caused some excitement and considerable talk in this District. A 
Presbyterian Elder, in '■'■good and regular standing,'' a reputed " watchman 



67 

upon the walls of Zion," — among his g;oods and chattels is owned a young 
female, who is a member of the Congregational Baptist Church, which was 
under the pastoral cliarge of Rev. Mr. Samson — the church at which Secretary 
Corwin and family worship. This female displeased her religions master in 
some way, and he — Christian man — forthwith gave her into the hands of the 
slave traders, who took her over to Alexandria, and incarcerated her with 
others in a slave pen, where she is to remain till a full "drove" is made up 
for the Southern market. When spoken to upon tiie subject, the grey-haired 
Elder excused himself by charging her with crime. The girl protested her 
innocence, and desired, even begged, for a trial. This poor helpless slave has 
a mother, who is also a slave, subject to all the rigors of the lower lato. When 
apprised of the situation of her daughter, she flew to the pen, and with tears 
besought an interview with her only child, but she was cruelly repulsed, and 
told to begone ! 

Asa specimen of the enactments adopted at Washington, by Congress, 
for the regulation of slavery in the District, take the following : — 

To deal or barter with servants or slaves, subjects the person so doing (white 
person,) to a fine of two thousand pounds of tobacco, and in case of an ina- 
bility to pay, then the offender, upon conviction before the proper court, is sub- 
jected to forty stripes, save one, on the bare back. 

Free negroes and mulattoes, who intermarry with whites, are made slaves for 
life, and the whites made servants for seven years, the avails of such service 
to go towards the support of the public schools. 

Slaves convicted of pilfering and other petit crimes, are subject to a whip- 
ping upon the bare back, not exceeding forty lashes. 

Slaves caught away from their homes without a pass or permit, are subject 
to thirty-nine lashes, to be iniiicted by any constable of the county. 

If any slave shall strike a white person, and he is convicted of the same 
before a justice, said justice may cause one of the ears of the slave to be 
cropped. 

Any person convicted of stealing any slave, or becoming accessory in any 
manner to a theft of this character, suffers death as a felon, without benefit of 
clergy. 

Slaves guilty of rambling in the night, or running away without leave, are 
subject to punishment by whipping, cropping an ear, branding in the cheek 
the letter R, or otherwise, not extending to life. 

In the year 1836, three hundred thousand men and women petitioned 
Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia; but 
the legislators " whose glory is to acknowledge the laws of Nature and 
of Nature's God," and whose power over the District is absolute, passed 
the following resolution by the following vote — yeas, 117 — nays, 68: — 

" Whereas, it is extremely important and desirable, that the agitation on this 
subject (slavery) should he finally arrested, for the purpose of restoring tran- 
quillity to the public mind ; therefore. 

Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, resolutions, and propositions, relating 
in any tvay, or to any extent whatever, to the subject of slavery, shall, without 
being either printed or referred, be laid on the table, and that no farther action 
whatever shall be had thereon." (1) 

(1) " One of the peculiar atrocities of this resolution is, that it wrests from every member of 
the House his constitutional right to propose such measures for the government of the District 



68 

Such are the legislators " whose glory is to acknowledge the laws 
of Nature and of Nature's God " ! ! 

The "star-spangled banner" of the United States seems to excite 
your special admiration, though beneath it millions are groaning in 
bondage ! To what purpose it is sometimes used, you can learn by 
reading the following statement of a credible eye-witness. Rev. James 
H. DicKEv : 

" In the summer of 1822, as I returned with my family from a visit to the 
Barrens of Kentucky, I witnessed a scene such as I never witnessed before, 
and such as I hope never to witness again. Having passed through Paris in 
Bourbon county, Ky., the sound of music (beyond a little rising ground) attract- 
ed my attention. I looked forward, and saw the flag of my country waving. 
Supposing that I was about to meet a military parade, I drove hastily to the 
side of the road ; and having gained the ascent, I discovered (I suppose) about 
forty black men all chained together after the following manner: each of them 
was handcuffed, and they were arranged in rank and file. A chain perhaps 40 
feet long, the size of a fifth-horse-chain, was stretched between the two ranks, 
to which short chains were joined, which connected with the handcuffs. Be- 
hind them were, I suppose, about thirty women, in double rank, the couples 
tied hand to hand. A solemn sadness sat on every countenance, and the dis- 
mal silence of this march of despair was interrupted only by the sound of two 
violins ; yes, as if to add insult to injury, the foremost couple were furnished 
with a violin apiece ; the second couple were ornamented with cockades, while 
near the centre waved the Repsblican flag, carried by a hand literally in chains. 
I could not forbear exclaiming to the lordly driver who rode at his ease along 
side, ' Heaven will curse that man who engages in such traffic, and the gov- 
ernment that protects him in it.' I pursued my journey till evening, and put 
up for the night ; when I mentioned the scene I had witnessed. ' Ah ! ' (cried 
my landlady) ' that is my brother ! ' From her I learned that his name is 
Stone, of Bourbon county, Kentucky, in partnership with one Kinningham of 
Paris ; and that a few days before, he had purchased a Negro woman from a 
man in Nicholas county. She refused to go with him ; he attempted to compel 
her, but she defended herself. Without farther ceremony, he stepped back, 
and, by a blow on the side of her head with the butt of his whip, brought 
her to the ground ; he tied her, and drove her oif. I learned further, that be- 
sides the drove I had seen, there were about thirty shut up in the Paris prison 
for safe keeping, to be added to the company, and that they were designed 
for the Orleans market. And to this they are doomed for no other crime than 
that of a black skin and curled locks. Shall I not visit for these things, saith 
the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ?" 

At Washington, you have had an interview with Henry Clay, (now 
an invalid,) and have professed to regard it as a great honor. Mr. Clay 
holds more than sixty of his fellow creatures in slavery as his property, 

as justice and humanity may require. Slaves might be burned alive in the streets of the Cap- 
ital ; the slavers might be crowded to suflbcation with human victims ; every conceivable 
cruelty might be practised, and no one member of the local legislature could be permitted to 
propose even a committee of inquiry, ' relating in any way, or to any extent whatever, to the 
subject of slavery.' " — Judge Jay. 



69 

audaciously declaring that " that is property which the law declares to 
be property," even the children of God, — and that " the legislation 
of two hundred years has sanctioned and sanctified negro slaves as 
property," and, therefore, they are not men ! Listen to his avowal: — 
" I am myself a slaveholder ; and I consider that kind of property as 
inviolable as any other in the country, I would resist as soon, and with 
as much firmness, encroachments upon it, as I would encroachments 
upon any other kind of proj^erty. I know there is a visionary clogma^ 
which holds that negro slaves cannot be the subject of property. I 
shall not dwell long upon this speculative abstraction.'''' Again — " If I 
had been then, or were now a citizen of any of the planting States — the 
Southern or South-western States — I should have opposed, and would 
continue to oppose, any scheme whatever of emancipation, gradual or 
irii7ncdiatc.''' Again — " It is not true, and I rejoice that it is not true, 
that either of the two great political parties in this country has any de- 
sign or aim at abolition. I should deeply lament it, if it were true." 
There is no man living, who has done so much for the extension and 
perpetuation of slavery as Mr. Clay, or who is more inimical to the anti- 
slavery movement. He is the President of the American Colonization 
Society, an association oragnized by Southern slaveholders and their 
Northern allies for the expatriation of the free colored population of this 
country to Africa, 07i account of their freedom and complexion, whom it 
slanderously accuses of being "the most abandoned race on earth," 
" scarcely reached in their debasement by the heavenly light," " a curse 
and contagion wherever they reside," "scorned by one class, [the 
whites,] and foolishly envied by another," [the slaves,] " with no privi- 
lege but that of being more vicious and miserable than slaves can be," 
" in one part of the country dull as a brutish beast, in another the wild 
stirrer up of sedition and insurrection," "forever excluded, by public sen- 
timent, by law, and by a physical distinction, from equality," " a distinct 
and inferior race, repugnant to our republican (!) feelings, and danger- 
ous to our republican (!) institutions," " in this country forever debased, 
forever useless, forever a nuisance, from which it were a blessing for 
society to be rid," " doomed by immovable barriers to eternal degrada- 
tion," " weighed down by causes, powerful, universal, inevitable, which 
neither legislation nor Christianity can remove, as it is an ordination of 
Providence, and no more to he changed than the laws of nature,^'' (1) yet 
absurdly and audaciously maintaining, in the same breath, that *' they, 
and they only, are qualified for colonizing Africa," — " every one of 

(1) See the Annual Reports of the American Colonization Society, and its oflicial organ, the 
African Repository. 



70 

whom," says Mr. Clay, " is a missionary, carrying with him credentials 
in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free institutions " ! ! 
The Colonization Society commends itself to slaveholding confidence 
and patronage by further declaring, that the removal of the free blacks 
" would prove one of the greatest securities to enable the master to 
keep in possession his property," and would " contribute more effectually 
to the continuance and strength of the slave system, than any or all other 
methods which could possibly be devised." At the head of this cruel, 
unnatural and oppressive combination stands Henry Clay, in whose 
presence you, Louis Kossuth, reverently bow your head, and for the 
prolongation of whose life you express the most earnest solicitude ! 

It is the boast of Mr. Clay, that his slaves are " well fed and clad," 
and that " they look sleek and hearty." Doubtless, the same is true 
of his cattle and swine. What scenes are witnessed on his plantation at 
Ashland, may be inferred from the following authentic incident. In 
1846, one of his slaves obtained permission of the overseer to visit his 
wife on a distant plantation, on condition of returning an hour earlier in 
the morning than usual. Unluckily, he overslept his time, but presented 
himself at the usual hour for labor, with a humble apology. The en- 
raged overseer levelled a blow at him with a handspike, the point of 
which passed along by the side of the slave's head with such force as to 
cut through his hat ; and the scalp, from near the middle of the forehead 
to the back of the ear, was cut through also. 

" Wlien the wounded slave had so far recovered from the stunning effects of 
the blow as to be able to Avalk, he turned away towards Mr. Clay's mansion, 
to tell him of his wrongs. The overseer seeing the course he took, and guess- 
ing at his object, put tlie dogs after him, one of which caught him by the calf 
of the leg. This he choked off, and made his way to Mr. Clay's presence. 
There he addressed this form of speech to his master : " Massa Clay, I have 
worked for you now nine years, and if I haven't done my work as well as the 
rest of the people, and been as early at home Monday morning as massa says, 
I wish massa Clay tell me so, and not let the overseer cut my head so bad with 
the handspike." "You impudent fellow! what sent you here to tell of your 
working for me nine years, or any other time ? Why, you black rascal, / paid 
sven hundred dollars for you ! Go back and attend to your work ; and I will 
see to settling this matter with the overseer." 

Meeting with this harsh rebuff, he turned into one of the negro cabins, got 
his head dressed the best way he could, and hurried back to the hog-killing, 
where he labored through the day as well as he was able. In the course of 
the day, the overseer had an interview with the sage of Ashland, when these 
"wise men and benevolent individuals came to this conclusion : " The impu- 
dent, refractory slave must be curbed and broke in by three hundred lashes, 
well laid on." The " Sage " directed his faithful overseer to call to his assist- 
ance Mr. Wickliffe's overseer, that between them both, "right and justice" 
might be done. 

Some three days after this, the overseer of Mr. Wickliffe came riding up to 



71 

where H. Clay's " well fed," &c., were at work, under the patriarchal guidance 
of his chosen overseer, when the bland salutation, " Good morning, sir," from 
Wickliffe's organ, was responded to by the Clay organ in the most chivalric 
and genteel manner possible ; echoing back the bewitching "Good morning, 
sir. Will you be so good as to dismount, and see how we get along, sir ? " 
Persuaded to do so by the courteous bearing of the Clay man, he dismounted, 
and stood erect in all his dignity before the "civil and respectful" Ashlanders; 
while his brother overseer made his horse fast to a post. This done, the Clay 
overseer tapped the half-scalped $700 slave, (not in soon enough at the hog- 
killing on Monday,) significantly on the shoulder, with the alarming direction, 
"Come, boy, go with us ; we have some business to attend to with you." This 
was on an extremely cold morning in December last. The overseers led the 
way across the fields to an old barn, near the woods. Here the victim was 
tied both hands together, and both feet in like manner, with ropes ; after strip- 
ping the body above the hips entirely naked. This done, one end of a rope 
was tied fast to the rope which bound the hands, and the other end flung over 
a beam, upon which the two overseers flung their weight, and raised up the 
doomed slave to the proper height for receiving a kind, salutary whipping. To 
prevent the body from turning round, a rail was passed through between the 
legs, resting upon the rope that bound them together. All things being now 
ready, the Clay overseer thought of his whip for the first time, which, in his 
haste to shed innocent blood, he had entirely overlooked. To supply this 
defect, he hastened to the adjoining wood, and cut a good armful of ox-goads ; 
the tortured slave, in the meantime, hanging in the position above mentioned, 
exposed to the bitter blasts of cold December. Upon his return, tiie work of 
flaying alive commenced. After striking some 150 times, Wickliffe's over- 
seer advised him to desist, remarking, " I think he will obey you now." The 
infuriated Clay man had not drunk deep enough of blood yet, and renewed, 
and for some time continued his terrible work, till the less excited and more 
considerate VVickliffe man cried, " Stop, if you mean to spare the boy alive." 
After having been suspended three quarters of an hpur, the victim of Ken- 
tucky law, and Ashland usage, was lowered down, unbound, and his clothes 
placed over his lacerated, bruised, mangled, and half-frozen body, and left 
lying in the cold barn; while the gentlemen executioners walked off to watch 
for other prey. The poor slave had barely strength to drag himself to some 
friendly negro-quarters, Avhere his wounds could be mollified, the broken splin- 
ters of wood left sticking in his mangled body picked out, and healing reme- 
dies applied, to restore him to something like a living condition again. As 
soon as he was able to visit his wife, he did so, and she, filled with astonish- 
ment and horror, at beholding the condition in which he came back to her, and 
fully impressed as she was with the certainty of his being sold down the 
river, as soon as his wounds were healed, if for nothing else, to rid Ashland of 
a witness to its cruelty, she advised him by all means to make his escape, as 
soon as he could possibly bear the fatigues of travelling by night, and shape 
his course toward a land of freedom. In obedience to the counselHngs of his 
wife, and the promj)tings of his own heart and will, he made the attempt while 
his wounds were in a measure yet green ; and under the protection of Him 
who "tempers the winds to the shorn lamb," he had reached thus Ihr on his 
way to a "city of refuge," when Prof. PI. fell in company with him. (1) His 
guide through Ohio was a native born fellow-citizen of the chivalric, the gal- 
lant State of Kentucky. He, too, had drunk deep and long of that death- 
dealing cup, mingled in the Southern prison-house, the land of oppression. 

(1) This poor niau stated to Prof. H., tliat " Ueury Clay, last .summer, sold ten slaves for the 
Southern market— and the summer before, one. Also, that summer before last, one of his 
slaves received an infliction offovr hundred lashes— vtwd. a short lime after, he hung himself" 



72 

A beloved wife and child had for ever been torn from liis embrace by the 
damnable operations of Kentucky slave-law. The wife of his youth, if she 
yet survives, is now the property of a Mississippi planter, purchased for the 
unhallowed purpose of satisfying his " tieshly lusts, which war against the 
soul, and drown men in perdition." 

Mr. Clay's chattel having succeeded in reaching Canada, a public 
meeting was held at Amherstburgh on his arrival, the official proceed- 
ings of which are herewith annexed : — 

THE SLAVE OF HENRY CLAY. 

Amherslhurgli, March 13, 1845. 
A public meeting of the citizens of Amherstburgh, Canada West, met in 
Union Chapel, to hear an address from Lewis Richardson, a fugitive from 
Henry Clay, of Ashland, Kentucky. At half-past 7 o'clock, A. M., the house 
was called to order by Mr. L. Foster, who acted as chairman of the meeting, 
and J. Binga, secretary. After the object of the meeting was explained by H. 
Bibb, of Detroit, Mr. Richardson proceeded as follows : — 

" Dear Brethren, I am truly happy to meet with you on British soil, (cheers,) 
where I am not known by the color of my skin, but where the Government 
knows me as a man. I am now free from American slavery, after wearing the 
galling chains on my limbs 53 years ; nine of which it has been my unhappy 
lot to be the slave oi' Henry Clay. It has been said by some, that Clay's slaves 
had rather live with him tlian be free ; but I had rather this day have a mill- 
stone tied to my neck, and be sunk to the bottom of Detroit river, than to go 
back to Ashland, and be his slave for life. As late as Dec, 1845, H. Clay had 
me stripped and tied up, and one hundred and fifty lashes given me on my naked 
back ; the crime for which I was so abused was, I failed to return home on a 
visit to see my wife, on Monday morning, before 5 o'clock. My wife was living 
on another place, three miles from Ashland. During the nine years living with 
Mr. Clay, he has not given me hat nor cap to wear, nor a stitch of bed clothes, 
except one small coarse blanket. Yet he has said publicly his slaves were 'fat 
and sleek ' ! But I say if they are, it is not because they are so well used by 
him. They have nothing but coarse bread and meat to cat, and not enough of 
that. They are allowanced every week. For each field hand is allowed one 
peck of coarse corn meal, and meat in proportion, and no vegetables of any 
kind. Such is the treatment that Henry Clay's slaves receive from Jiim. I can 
truly say that I have only one thing to lament over, and that is my bereft wife, 
who is yet in bondage. If I only had her with me, I should be happy. Yet 
think not that I am unhappy. Think not that I regret the choice I have made. 
I counted the cost before 1 started. Before I took leave of my wife, she wept 
over me, and dressed the wounds on my back, caused by the lash. I then 
gave her the parting hand, and started for Canada. I expected to be pur- 
sued as a felon, as I had been before, and to be hunted as a fox from mountain 
to cave. I well knew if I continued much longer with Clay, that I should be 
killed by such floggings and abuse by his cruel overseer in my old age. I 
wanted to be free before I died — and if I should be caught on the way to Can- 
ada, and taken back, it could be but death, and I miglit as well die with the 
colic as the fever. With these considerations, I started for Canada 

Such usage as this caused me to flee from under the American eagle, and 
take shelter under the British crown. (Cheers.) Thanks be to Heaven that I 
have ^ot here at last! On yonder side of Detroit river, I was recognized as 
property; but on this side 1 am on free soil. Hail, Britannia ! Shame, America ! 



73 

(Cheers.) A republican despotism, holding tliree millions of fellow-men in 
slavery ! Oh, what a contrast between slavery and liberty ! Here I stand 
erect, without a chain upon my limbs. (Cheers.) Redeemed, emancipated by 
the generosity of Great Britain. (Cheers.) I now feel as independent as 
ever Henry Clay felt when he was running for the White House. In fact, I 
feel better. He has been defeated four or five times, and I but once. But he 
was running for slavery, and I for liberty. I think I have beat him out of 
sight. Thanks be to God that I am elected to Canada, and if I don't live but 
one night, I am determined to die on free soil. Let my days be few or many, 
let me die sooner or later, my grave shall be made in free soil." 

So much for the principles, conduct, character and position of Henry 
Clay, who expresses so much sympathy for the poor Hungarians ! 

Among those who have come forward, at Washington, to welcome 
you to the Capital, is Judge Bailey. On being informed, by himself, 
that he was from Virginia, (true to your parasitical policy,) you ex- 
claimed — " Virginia ! the mother of statesmen ! " Yes — of statesmen, 
under whose iron rule nearly half a million of slaves are groaning on 
the blood-stained soil of Virginia ! One of these, (Mr. Gholson,) in 
his speech in the legislature of that State, Jan. 18, 1832, said : — 

" It has always (perhaps erroneously) been considered, by steady and old- 
fashioned people, that the owner of land had a reasonable right to its annual 
profits ; the owner of orchards, to their annual fruits ; the owner of brood 
mares, to their product ; and the owner of female slaves, to their increase. We 
have not the fine-spun intelligence nor legal acumen to discuss the technical 
distinctions drawn by gentlemen. The legal maxim of ^Partus sequitur 
ventrem'' is coeval with the existence of the rights of property itself, and is 
founded in wisdom and justice. It is on the justice and inviolability of this 
maxim, that the master foregoes the services of the female slave ; has her 
nursed and attended during the period of her gestation, and raises the helpless 
and infant offspring. The value of the property justifies the expense ; and I do 
not hesitate to say, that in its increase consists much of our wealth." 

Human flesh is now the great staple of Virginia, In the Legislature 
of that State in 1832, Thomas Jefferson Randolph declared that Vir- 
ginia had been converted into " one grand menagerie, cohere men are 
reared for the market like oxen for the shambles.''' This same gentle- 
man thus compared the foreign with the domestic traffic : — " The trader 
(African) receives the slave, a stranger in aspect, language, and man- 
ners, from the merchant who brought him from the interior. But here, 
sir, individuals whom the master has known from infancy — whom he 
has seen sporting in the innocent gambols of childhood — who have been 
accustomed to look to him for protection, he tears from the mother's 
arms, and sells into a strange country, among a strange people, subject 
to cruel taskmasters. In my opinion, it is much tcorse." 

Mr. C. F. Mercer asserted in the Virginia Convention of 1829, " The 
tables of the natural growth of the slave population demonstrate, when 
10 



compared with the increase of its numbers in the Commonwealth for 
twenty years past, that an annual revenue of not less than a million and 
a half of dollars is derived from the exportatio7i of a part of this pop- 
ulation." — Debates, p. 99. 

The Richmond Enquirer of Nov. 13, 1846, says — " Negroes have 
become the only reliable staple of the tobacco-growing sections of Vir- 
ginia, the only reliable means of liquidating debts, foreign and domes- 
iic" ! It was stated in the Virginia Times, in 1836, that the number of 
slaves exported for sale ' the last twelve months,' amounted to forty 
thousand; each slave averaging six hundred dollars, and thus yielding 
a capital of twenty-fouk millions "' ! (1) 

J. K. Paulding, the late Secretary of the Navy, gives the follow- 
ing picture of a scene he witnessed in Virginia : — 

"The sun was shining out very hot, and in turning an angle of the road, we 
encountered the following- group: first, a little cart drawn by one horse, in 
which five or six half naked black children were tumbled like pigs togrether. 
The cart had no covering, and they seemed to have been actually broiled to 
sleep. Behind the cart marched three black women, with head, neck and 
breasts uncovered, and without shoes or stockings ; next came three men, bare- 
headed, half naked, and chained together with an ox chain. Last of all came 
a white man — a white man, Frank ! — on horseback, carrying pistols in his belt, 
and who, as we passed him, had the impudence to look us in the face without 
blushing. I should like to have seen him hunted by bloodhounds. At a house 
■where we stopped a little further on, we learned that he had bought these mis- 
erable beings in Maryland, and was inarching them in this manner to some of 
the more Southern States. Shame on the State of Maryland ! I say — and 
shame on the State of Virginia ! and every State through v/hich this Avretched 
cavalcade was permitted to pass. Do they expect that such exhibitions will 
not dishonor them in the eyes of strangers, however they may be reconciled to 
them by education and habit?" 

So much for " Virginia, the mother of statesmen " ! — But this is not 
all. In the year 1831, an insurrection of slaves took place in South- 
ampton, Virginia, — like your own struggle in Hungary. What was the 
sequel you will learn by reading the following particulars ; — 

Richmond, (Va.) August 23, 1851. 
An express reached the Governor this morning, informing him that an insur- 
rection had broken out in Southampton, and that, by the last accounts, there are 
seventy whites massacred, and the militia retreating. The negroes are armed 
with muskets, scythes, axes, &c. &c. Our volunteers are marching to the scene 

(1) "A writer in the New Orleans Argus, Sept. 1830, in an article on the culture of the sugar 
cane, says— 'The loss by death in bringing slaves fi-om a northern climate, which our planters 
are under the necessity of doing, is not less than tweuty-flve per cent.' I ! Our tables prove the 
same thing. Of the 40,000 slaves annually carried South, only 29,101 are found to survive ;— 
a greater sacrifice o/ lift than that caused by the middle passage " .'—[Slavery and the Constitution, by 
William I. JBovditch. 



75 

of action. The Fayette Artillery and the Light Dragoons will leave here this 
evening for Southampton. * * Col. House, commanding at Fortress Mon- 
roe, at 6 o'clock this morning, embarked on board the steamer Hampton, with 
three companies and a piece of artillery for Suffolk. These troops were rein- 
forced in the Roads by detachments from the U. S. ships Warren and Natchez, 
the whole amounting to nearly 300 men. * * * Muskets, pistols, swords 
and ammunition, have been forwarded to Suffolk to-day, by Commodore 
Warrington, at the request of our civil authorities. * * * We do not yet 
know the strength of the blacks, but think they must all perish within a lew- 
days. 

August 25. Passengers by the Fayetteville stage say that, by the latest ac- 
counts, 120 negroes had been killed. * * Several prisoners were put to 
death forthwith by the enraged inhabitants. The celebrated Nelson, called by 
the blacks "General Nelson," Hercules or Hark, Gen. Moore and the other ring- 
leaders, except Nat Turner, the prophet, had all been shot or taken prisoners. 
Turner calls himself General Turner. He pretends to be a Baptist preacher — 
is a great enthusiast. He stimulated his comrades to join with him, by declar- 
ing to them that he had been commissioned by Jesus Christ, and that he was 
acting under inspired direction in what he was going to do. He is represented, 
in a description of his person, to have " a scar on one of his temples ; also one 
on the back of his neck, and a large knot on one of the bones of his right arm, 
near the wrist, produced by a blow." * * * The United States troops, at 
Old Point Comfort, have been ordered out to scour the Dismal Swamp, in which 
it is asserted from two to three thousand blacks are concealed. 

A letter from Rev. G. W. Powell, under date of Aug. 27, says that "there are 
thousands of troops in arms, searching in every direction, and many negroes are 
killed every day. The exact number loill never he ascertained." Eleven of the 
insurgents have already been tried, condemned, and executed. Thirty yet re- 
main to be tried. 

A young gentleman in Virginia, in a letter to his parents residing in New 
Hampshire, says — " It is truly revolting to learn, that, without trial — in some 
instances, ivithout the shadow of suspicion — innocent colored persons were sacri- 
ficed without mercy to the excited passion and inconsiderate revenge of the 
whites in pursuit. One negro, I am informed, was sent on horseback, upon an 
errand to the next neighbor's, and commanded to go quick. While he was 
riding along rather fast, a company of soldiers, supposing him an enemy fleeing, 
let in a whole volley upon him, and killed both man and horse. Another was 
taken alive, and put to death by torture. They burnt him ivith red hot irons — 
cut off his ears and nose — stabbed him — cut his ham-strings — stuck him like a 
hog — and, at last, cut off his head, andspiked it to the whipping post, for a specta- 
cle and a warning to the other negroes. ' 

In riding in the stage from Richmond to Fredericksburg, a passenger by the 
name of Smith, direct from the seat of the insurrection, stated that the blacks 
who were taken prisoners were killed in the most barbarous manner. Their 
7ioses and ears icere cut off, thejiesh of their cheeks cut out, their jaws broken asun- 
der, and then set up as a mark to shoot at ! If a black was found out of doors, 
after dark, without a pass, he was immediately shot down. 

Wilmington, N. C, Sept. 20. We have been under a very great excite- 
ment here, in consequence of an expected insurrection among our blacks. It 
appears, on investigation, that the plot was much deeper laid than we anticipa- 
ted. * * * The leaders in this plot have all been executed — Nimrod, Dan, 
Prince and Abraham were all shot this morning, at 6 o'clock, on Gallows Hill, 
and their h^ads are now sticking on poles at the four corners of the town. 



76 

Sept. 28. Three ringleaders of the late diabolical conspiracy were executed 
at Onslow Court House, on Friday evening last, 23d inst., by the people. 

It is said that four negroes who were suspected to be in the plot tverejlogged 
to make them confess, and then hung upon their co7ifessions ! 

Jerusalem, (Va.) Oct. 31. Last night, about 9 o'clock, the news reached our 
little village that General Nat was taken alive. He reached this place, well 
guarded, to-day, at a quarter after 1 o'clock, and was committed to prison. 
During two hours close examination, he evinced great intelligence and much 
shrewdness of intellect, answering every question clearly and distinctly, and 
without confusion or prevarication. He seems to labor under as perfect a state 
of fanatical delusion (!) as ever wretched man suffered. He does not hesitate to 
say, that, even now, he thinks he was right, but admits he may possibly have been 
deceived. Nevertheless, he seems of the opinion, that if his time were to go 
over again, he must necessarily act in the same ivay. 

A correspondent of the Richmond Whig says — " Nat had for some time 
thought closely on this subject; for I have in my possession some papers given 
up by his wife, under the lash." 

We learn, says the Petersburg Intelligencer, by a gentleman from Southamp- 
ton, that the fanatical murderer, Nat Turner, was executed, according tq his 
sentence, at Jerusalem, (1) on Friday last, about 1 o'clock. He exhibited the 
utmost composure throughout the whole ceremony ; and although assured that he 
might, if he thought proper, address the immense crowd assembled on the oc- 
casion, declined availing himself of the privilege, and told the sheriff, in a firm 
voice, that he was ready. JVot a limh or a muscle ivas observed to move." 

And this, O Kossuth, in " Virginia, the mother of statesmen " — in 
" the glorious republic of the United States, whose millions of inhabi- 
tants are all attached with warm feelings to the principles of liberty, 
with no tyrants among them " ! What can equal it, in point of atrocity 
and horror, in the history of the Hungarian struggle with Austria and 
Russia combined ? And where has there appeared a more heroic spirit 
than that of Nathaniel Tuknek, the unfortunate but indomitable slave 
leader in the Southampton insurrection ? Is the State, is the nation, 
that put him to an ignominious death, the State or nation to rally in be- 
half of Hungary, or to arraign the Autocrat of Russia for his tyranny ? 

To complete this " assemblage of horrors," we present for your con- 
templation a few other illustrations of American slavery. 

In the summer of 1845, a number of slaves attempted to escape from 
Maryland, that they might find liberty and proteclion under the British 
flag in Canada. If you would learn their fate, read the following state- 
ment communicated to the New York Herald : — 

Baltimore, July 12, 1845. 
I learn from a gentleman who was present at the arrest of a gang of runa- 
way negroes near Rockville, Maryland, that they were treated in the most 
brutal manner by their captors. When surrounded by the Rockville volun- 

(1) "Jerusalem, where our Lord was crucified." 



teers, they were commanded to surrender, and because cne out of forty showed 
a determination to resist, a whole volley of balls from rifles and pistols was 
poured indiscriminately among them. Those wounded are Ferdinand, slave of 
Wm. Browner, a ball in the left side of his neck, which will probably prove 
fatal ; James, slave of Edwin Jones, rifle ball in his back, which will cripple 
him for life ; David, a slave of John Hamet, part of his cheek torn away, and 
a ball in his back ; David, another slave of John Hamet, his right arm com- 
pletely shattered with a musket ball ; James, a slave of Barnes' estate, per- 
fectly riddled with balls in his side and neck, and part of his cheek torn away; 
Mark, do., a pistol ball in the back of his neck ; James Gray, belonging to 
Chas. Rye, severely wounded on the side of his face; Lewis Dey, a slave of 
Colonel Miller, struck with a ball on the side of his face; Henry, slave of 
General Chapman, a ball in his back. Had their arms been loaded with fine 
shot, or even a little coarse salt, it would have answered every purpose ; but 
instead of that, the deadly bullet must be used, and aim taken in every 
instance, as will be seen by the direction of the shot, at the head and shoulders, 
instead of the extremities. Some of them, on their return, even regretted that 
they " could not make the damn niggers resist, so that they might have had the 
pleasure of shooting them all down." They were all marched with ox chains, 
handcuffs, &c., and driven through Washington yesterday, on their way to 
their homes, more like a drove of hogs than human beings. In less than a 
•week, those that escaped the balls of their captors will be on their way to the 
cotton fields of Louisiana, while some at least of the wounded will die of neg- 
lect. 

The Natchez Free Trader gives an account of the arrest of a fugi- 
tive negro boy, named Joseph, who confessed (probably under the lash) 
to having committed various revolting crimes, including murder ; after 
which, it was deliberately resolved that the negro should be burked 
ALIVE ! The terrible scene is thus described : — 

"The body was taken and chained to a tree immediately on the banks of the 
Mississippi, on what is called Union Point. Fagots were then collected and 
piled around him, to which he appeared quite indifferent. When the work was 
completed, he was asked what he had to say. He then warned all to take ex- 
ample by him, and asked the prayers of all around; he then called for a drink 
of water, which was handed to him ; he drank it, and said : ' Now set fire — I 
am ready to go in peace ! ' The torches were lighted, and placed in the pile, 
which soon ignited. He watched unmoved the curling flame that grew, until 
it began to entwine itself around and feed upon his body ; then he sent forth 
cries of agony painful to the ear, begging some one to blow his brains out ; at 
the same time surging with almost superhuman strength, until the staple with 
which the chain was fastened to the tree (not being well secured) drew out, and 
he leaped from the burning pile. At that moment the sharp ringing of several 
rifles was heard : the body of the negro fell a corpse on the ground. He was 
picked up by some two or three, and again thrown into the fire, and consumed 
— not a vestige remaining to show that such a being ever existed." 

Here is another case of human burning, as detailed in the New Or- 
leans Bulletin : — 

Another Nkgro Burned. — We learn from the clerk of the Highlander, 
that while wooding a short distance below the mouth of Red River, they were 
invited to stop a short time, and see another negro burned. They were informed 



T8 

that the fellow who was prepared for the exhibition was another of the gang 
recently mentioned as having committed enormities, and fled to the swamp — one 
of whom was burnt, as already published. The last fellow had killed a man, 
and carried off two women, one of whom he had violated ; and for this they 
had him well chained, and the fagots ready, with a view of giving him a fore- 
taste of his inevitable, ultimate end. 

Take a third and final case, though the number might be indefinitely 
extended : — 

Horrible. — A correspondent of the Cincinnati Herald relates the following 
occurrence, but it seems scarcely credible. It is said to have occurred near 
Oakland Cottage, Mississippi : " A slaveholder, a short time previous to his 
death, made provisions for the liberation of his slaves. Those who were 
entrusted with the execution of his designs failing or refusing to carry out his 
last will and testament concerning the slaves, the latter became restive and 
impatient to enjoy their long looked for boon. At length, disappointment, 
expecting to be sold, and incensed at their oppressors, they set fire to the over- 
seer's dwelling, and burnt it to the ground. A little child, which they were 
unable to rescue, was consumed in the flames. The slaves, eight or nine in 
number, were taken, and two of them hung on the spot. The others were 
taken into an old log-house, and chained to the floor. The house was then set 
on fire, and they were, by a slow fire, burned to death, in a most shocking 
manner, while the air was rent with their unavailing shrieks and screams." 

Read the following heart-rending narrative, as given by Isaac John- 
son and his wife, who have just escaped from the South, and are now in 
Canada. It is taken from the Voice of the Fugitive : — 

They were held as property in the State of Mississippi, a short time since, and 
were the parents of an only child, which was about thirteen months old. A few 
days before they started on the hazardous voyage to Canada, the mother learned 
that she was sold to a slave trader, who intended to separate her from her be- 
loved child and husband, never more to see them on tliis earth. But they re- 
solved on running away to Canada, with their child,4)r perish by the way. They 
succeeded in crossing over the line into what is called a free State, (Indiana,) 
with their child, wliere they were chased until their babe was sacrificed on the 
bloody altar of Slavery. On seeing that they were closely pursued, they broke 
and ran to a corn field — the wife first got over the fence, and the husband hand- 
ed her the child, with which she ran as fast as she could. She heard the pur- 
suer saying "stop, stop, or I will shoot you down;" and before she had pro- 
ceeded far, a gun was fired, and her child was shot dead from her back — and 
the ball, which passed through the child's neck, cut off one corner of the mother's 
ear. At this moment the poor mother fell down with her lifeless babe, when 
she was rushed upon by two white men, who commenced trying to bind her with 
ropes ; but when she cried for help, her husband came to her relief — the con- 
test was desperate for a few moments ; the wife and husband both fought until 
they brought down one of the party, and his- companion fled and left him. The 
husband and wife, fearing that they would soon be surrounded and overpower- 
ed, and seeing that their little one was dead, and that they could do it no good, 
reluctantly left it lying by the villain who shot it. Fortunately for them, 
they soon found a depot of the underground railroad, and one of the conductors 
thereof was kind enough to put on an extra train, which soon landed them on a 
soil where " no slave can breathe." We deeply sympathize with them in their 



79 

bereavement, -while we think that it would be far better that ten thousand chil- 
dren should perish by the Avayside, than for one to be taken back into Southern 
slavery. 

After reading an occurrence like this, indulge once more (if you can) 
in your encomiums upon " this glorious country, which Providence has 
selected to be the pillar of freedom, as it is already the asylum to op- 
pressed humanity " ! 

Sir, you have signified your intention to visit Boston, and doubtless 
feel an electric thrill at the thought of standing in Faneuil Hall, and by 
the granite shaft on Bunker Hill. What will you say, what can you 
say, in view of a recital like the following, published in the New York 
Evangelist ? 

A Scene in Boston. — A colored girl eighteen years of age, a few years 
ago, escaped from slavery at the South. Through scenes of adventure and 
peril, almost more strange than fiction can create, she found her way to Bos- 
ton. She obtained employment, secured friends, and became a consistent 
member of a Methodist Church. She became interested in a very worthy 
young man, of her own complexion, who was a member of the same church. 
They were soon married. Their home, though humble, was the abode of 
piety and contentment. Industrious, temperate and frugal, all their wants 
were supplied. Seven years passed away. They had two little boys, one six 
and the other four years of age. These children, the sons of a free father, 
but of a mother who had been a slave, by the laws of our Southern States, 
were doomed to their mother's fate. These Boston boys, born beneath the 
shadow of Fanueil Hall, the sons of a free citizen of Boston, and educated in 
the Boston free schools, were by the compromises of the Constitution admitted 
to be slaves, the property of a South Carolinian planter. The Boston father 
had no right to his own sons. The law, however, had long been considered a 
dead letter. The Christian mother, as she morning and evening bowed with 
her children in prayer, felt that they Avere safe from the slave-hunter, sur- 
rounded as they were by the churches, the schools, and the free institutions of 
Massachusetts. 

The Fugitive Slave Law was enacted. It revived the hopes of the slave- 
owners. A young, healthy, energetic mother, with two fine boys, Avas a rich 
prize. She would make an excellent breeder. Good men began to say, " We 
must enforce this laAv ; it is one of the compromises of the Constitution." 
Christian ministers began to preach, "The voice of law is the voice of God. 
There is no higher rule of duty. We must send back the fugitive and her 
children, even though Ave take our sister from the sacramental table of our 
common Saviour." 

The poor Avoman was panic-stricken. Her friends gathered around her, and 
trembled for her. Her husband was absent from home, a seaman on board 
one of our Liverpool packets. She was afraid to go out of doors, lest one 
from the South should see her, and recognize her. One day, as she was going 
to the grocery for some provisions, her quick and anxious eye caught a glimpse 
of a man prowling around, Avhom she immediately recognized as from the 
vicinity of her old home of slavery. Almost fainting with terror, she hastened 
home, and taking her two children by the hand, fled to the house of a friend. 
She and her trembling children were hid in the garret. In less than one hour 
after her escape, the officer, with a writ, came for her arrest. 



80 

It was a dark and stormy day. The rain, freezing as it fell, swept in floods 
through the streets of Boston. Night came, cold, black and tempestuous. At 
midnight her friends took her in a hack, and conveyed her, with her children, 
to the house of her pastor. A prayer meeting had been appointed there, at 
that hour, in behalf of their suffering sister. A small group of stricken hearts 
were there assembled. They knelt in prayer. The poor mother, thus 
hunted from her home, her husband far away, sobbed, in the bitterness of her' 
anguish, as though her heart would break. Her little children, trembling 
before a doom, the enormity of which they were incapable of appreciating, 
cried loudly and uncontrollably. The humble minister caught the contagion. 
His voice became inarticulate through emotion. Bowing his head, he ceased 
to pray, and yielded himself to the sobbings of sympathy and grief. The 
floods of anguish were unloosed. Groanings and lamentations filled the room. 
No one could pray. Before the Lord they could only weep. Other fugitives 
were there, trembling in view of a doom more dreadful to them than death. 

After an hour of weeping, for the voice of prayer had passed away into the 
sublimity of unutterable anguish, they took this Christian mother and her 
children, in a hack, and conveyed them to one of the Cunard steamers, which 
fortunately was to sail for Halifax the next day. They took them in the 
gloom of midnight, through the tempest-swept streets, lest the slave-hunter 
should meet them. Her brethren and sisters of the church raised a little 
money from their scanty means to pay her passage, and to save her, for a few 
days, from starving, after her first arrival in the cold land of strangers. Her 
husband soon returned to Boston to find his home desolate, his wife and his 
children exiles in a foreign land. These facts need no word painting. I 
think that this narrative may be relied upon as accurate. I received the facts 
from the lips of one, a member of the church, who was present at that mid- 
night " weeping meeting," before the Lord. Such is slavery in Boston, in the 
year 1852. Shade of Calhoun ! Has the North nothing to do with slavery ? 

John S. C. Abbott. 

Brunswick, Me., Jan., 1852, 

Such, sir, are the deeds perpetrated and legalized in the land to which 
you have come, to ask its sympathy and aid in behalf of oppressed Hun- 
garians ! Whether you have not mistaken your mission, and sullied 
your character, in so doing, let a candid world decide. Whatever may 
be the popularity of the hour, and however you may strive to 
propitiate the bloody power of Slavery to accomplish the end in view, 
your self-abasement will be in vain. Hungary has nothing to hope or 
expect from slaveholding America. 

In behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 

WM. LLOYD GARRISON, President. 

Sydney Howard Gay, ) Secretaries. 
Wendell Phillips, ) 



APPENDIX. 



KOSSUTH'S ABDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED 

STATES. 

In December last, the following brief but significant Address appeared 
simultaneously in the New York daily papers. No one doubts its 
special reference to the question of American slavery, although Kossuth 
is too wary to refer to it in explicit terms, but wraps up his meaning in 
the language of generalization. 

Having come to the United States to avail myself, for the cause of 
my country, of the sympathy which I had reason to believe existed in 
the heart of the nation, I found it my duty to declare, in the first mo- 
ments of my arrival, that it is my mission to plead the independence of 
Hungary, and the liberty of the European Continent, before the great 
Republic of the United States. My principle in this respect is, that 
every nation has the sovereign right to dispose of its own domestic 
affairs, without any foreign interference ; that 1, therefore, shall not 
meddle with any domestic concerns of the United States, and that I ex- 
pect it from all the friends of my cause, not to do any thing in respect 
to myself, that could throw difficulties in my way, and, while expressing 
sympathy for the cause, would injure it. 

It is with regret that I must feel the necessity of again making that 
appeal to the public opinion of this country, and particularly to those 
who profess themselves to be the friends of my cause, to give one proof 
of their sympathy by avoiding every step which might entangle me in 
difficulties in respect to that rule which I have adopted, and which I 
again declare to be my leading principle, viz : not to mix, and not to be 
mixed up with whatever domestic concerns or party questions. 

L. KOSSUTH, 

New York, Dec. 12, 1851. 
11 



82 



AlOTEEH BISCLAIMEE. 

In the course of his speech delivered at the Citizens' Banquet in 
Philadelphia, Dec. 26th, Kossuth, in denying certain imputations cast 
upon him, said : — 

" The third incident is yet more curious, if possible ; and the more 
abominable, because to arrest my movements, a nameless enemy in the 
dark intended even to wound the honor of your own fellow citizens. I 
received a letter — again a forged one. The gentleman, whose name the 
forger so abused, has declared to me that it is a vile and stupid forgery. 
The following is the letter alluded to : — 

December 23, 1851. 

Hon. Lotjis Kossuth : 

Respected Sir: — It is my unpleasant duty to apprise you, that the 
intervention or non-intervention sentiments that you have promulgated 
in your speeches in the city of New York, are unsuitable to the region 
of Pennsylvania, situated as she is on the borders of several slaveholding 
States ; and after a conference with my distinguished uncle, the Hon. 
John Sargent, the Hon. Horace Binney,and other distinguished counsel- 
lors, who concur with me in the sentiment I feel, most reluctantly, I 
assure you, that such sentiments are incendiary in their character and 
effect, and as the conservator of the public morals and the peace 
of the country, having sworn to comply with the Constitution of the 
United States and the State of Pennsylvania, on taking upon myself 
the office of Attorney General of the County of Philadelphia, I shall be 
obliged to bring any such sentiments to the notice of the Grand Inquest 
of the county for their action and consideration. 
Respectfully. 

W. B. REED, Attorney General. 

Kossuth commentde on this letter as follows : — 

" Now, such a letter, and yet a forgery, indeed, is a despicable trick ; 
but though it is a forgery, still there is one th'mg which forces me to 
some humble remarks, precisely because I know not whence comes the 
blow. I am referring to these words : — ' Your intervention or non-inter- 
vention sentiments are unsuited to the region of Pennsylvania, situated 
as she is on the borders of several slaveholding States.' I avail myself 
of this opportunity to declare once more, that I never did or will do any 
thing which, in the remotest icay, could interfere jcith the matter 
alluded to, nor with whatever other domestic question of your united 
Republic, or of a single State of it. I have declared it openly several 
times, and on all and every opportunity, I have proved to be as good as 
my word. I dare say that even the pledge of the word of honor of an 
honest man should not be considered a sufficient security in that respect. 
The publicly avowed basis of my humble claims, and the unavoidable 
logic of it, would prove to be a decisive authority. 



83 

" What is the ground upon which I stand before the mighty tribunal 
of the public opinion of the United States ? It is tlie sovereign right of 
every nation to dispose of its own domestic concerns. (Great applause.) 
What is it I humbly ask of the United States .' It is that they may 
generously be pleased to protect this sovereign right of every nation 
against the encroaching violence of Kussia. It is, therefore, eminently 
clear that, this being my ground, I cannot and will not meddle with any 
domestic question of this Republic. (Applause.) Indeed, I more and 
more perceive that, to speak with Hamlet, ' there are more things in 
heaven and earth than were dreamed of in my philosophy.' (Laughter 
and applause.) But still, I will stand upright on however slippery 
ground, by taking hold of that legitimate fence of 7iot meddling in your 
domestic qjiesfions.'" 



FURTHER AND CONCLUSIVE PROOF OF KOSSUTH'S RECREANCY. 

Read the following documents, which need no elucidation : — 

PROSPECTUS AND PLATFORM. 

The undersigned respectfully announce to the public that their paper, 
called the Neue Yorker Deutsche Zeitung will terminate with the end of 
December. From the 1st of January, 1852, it will appear under the 
title : — Demokratischer Voelkerbund, edited by Messrs. Gyurman and 
Wutschel. 

Mr. Gyurman was for three years coUaborateur for the newspaper 
Pesti Hirlap,ihe principal editor of which was Mr. Kossuth. It is known 
with what success this paper incited the agitation in Hungary against the 
oppression of the family of Hapsburg, and prepared the revolution of 
1848. During the whole existence of the Hungarian national govern- 
ment, Mr. Gyurman was chief editor of the official paper, Koezioeny. — 
He fled subsequently to Turkey, was exiled at the same time with Kos- 
suth to Kutaya, and came, ultimately, on board <,he Mississippi to America. 
Governor Kossuth recommends Mr. Gyurman in the subjoined letter, as 
a talented, as well as a determined defender of the cause of democracy. 

Mr. Wutschel is advantageously known by his activity during the 
revolution of 1848 in Austria. These two men offer in their past life 
surety enough for the determination of their intention, as well as for the 
ability of their productions. MIGGUEL & CO., Publishers. 

The undersigned undertake, from the 1st of January, 1852, the editing 
of the Demokratischer Voelkerlnnd. VVe consider it our duty from the 
outset to explain to the public, in an open and candid manner, wiiat it has 
to expect from this paper. As this paper is intended to be pre-eminently 
a political one, it is necessary in the first place to define our position in 
the field of politics. We are Europeans — we came as fugitives to Amer- 
ica, because the whole of the united princes suppressed the exertions for 



84 

freedom of the isolated struggling people. But do not give up Europe 
as lost. We are fully convinced that the people of Europe will have a 
democratic future; we do not believe the "either — or" of the captive of 
Corsica on the Island of St. Helena. Europe cannot become Cossack ; it 
must become republican. Europe will ever be our native country. 
Europe — its political and social condition — will henceforth be the subject 
of our attention, the aim of our wishes and endeavors. We live for 
Europe, we work for her freedom. 

But we live in America, if only temporarily, as we are convinced. We 
therefore cannot help taking notice of the condition of our provisional 
home. We are not only here to look across the sea, but also, since the 
unlimited critical 7iature of reason demands it, to look round about us, 
while the free institutions ot" America offer so much for imitation, so much 
to le avoided, for the future formation of Europe. Europe should not 
copy America, because history does not copy itself. 

The condition, therefore, of America will, with equal right, form the 
second part of this paper; and here let us a'so define our position. 

The word "democratic," in the American acceptation, does not define 
with sufficient precision our stand in American affairs ; for here it has 
lost its natural 7neaning, and, inslead, acquired a historical one, which 
depends upon no principle, but from the laws of convenience. 

The following are the pending questions of the present policy, in re- 
ference to which we will give our course and platform : — 

1. The Slavery question. With regard toil, we consider the Com- 
promise no settled solution, hut a provisional laiv, for the abrogation of 
which, at least so Jar as the extradition of slaves is concerned, we will 
employ all the means ivhich a public organ can command. 

ii. Land Reform. We defend the principle of land reform, and con- 
tend against monopoly of the soil. 

3. The policy of the Union with respect to Central America. With 
reference to this point, we stand on the ground Monroe took, that every 
interference of European powers in the affairs of the American conti- 
nent will unhesitatingly be rejected. 

4. The Tariff'question ; and 5, that of Internal Improvements, (canals, 
rivers and harbors.) As we do not raise these questions 1o the stand of 
our principles, but rather consider them questions of convenience, we 
give free discussion of the same in our paper. 

At all the elections we will, therefore, take particular notice of the 
three enumerated principles. 

A. GYURMAN, 
F. WUTSCHEL. 



New Yokk, Dec. 22, 1851. 
Mr. Adolph Gyurbian, late editor of the official paper, Koezloenz — 

Upon your inquiry in which way you could serve the cause of your 
fatherland, and that of liberty, in your present position as an exile, I re- 
ply, that you could essentially serve the cause, to which you have devoted 



85 

yourself for many years with so much talent, perseverance and patriotism, 
if, particularly now, when tlie struggle between freedom and despotism 
has been renewed, you would again tread tlie path of journalism, on 
which you gained for yourself so honoiablea position. Firmly convinced 
tliat your industry will be congratulated and accompanied by ihe merited 
sympathy of all lovers of freedom. L. KOSSUTH. 



No sooner had these documents been given to the public, than such 
venomous pro-slavery journals as Bennett's Herald and the New York 
Express raised a hue and-cry against the nobly free and consistent 
GvuR.MAN, intimating that Kossuth was thus " undisguisedly sanctioning 
the re-opening and continuing the agitation of a question in this country, 
which may lead ultimately to the destruction and disruption of this fair 
fabric, before many years have elapsed' ! ! Alarmed by this clamor, 
and determined to exonerate himself from all suspicion of having any 
sympathy for the hunted fugitives from American slavery, Kossuth 
promptly caused the following humiliating and disgraceful disclaimer to 
be given to the public : — 

Kossuth and the " Demokratischer Voelkerbund." 
Commimication from the Secretary of Kossuth. 

Washington, Jan. 7, 18o2. 

To the New York Press : — A disingenuous attempt has been made by 
certain New York papers to cor nect Gov. Kossuth with the Demokratis- 
cher Voelkerbund^ and render him responsible for a paragraph in the 
programme of that paper, relative to American domestic policy. This 
has been done, notwithstanding his repeated declarations that he would 
never, directly nor indirectly, interfere in any domestic question of any 
foreign country. 

The fact that Mr. Gyurman was formerly sub-editor of Kossuth'^ 
journal, and subsequently an editor of an organ of his government, is 
assumed, without a tittle of evidence, in the face of this unequivocal de- 
claration, as a proof of the connection of Gov. Kossuth with the Dento- 
kratischer Voelkerhimd, and as warranting the assertion, that the openly 
avowed purpose of Messrs. Gyurman & Wutschet is undisguisedly 
sanctioned and concurred in by Kossuth, «SiC, 

You are authorized to state that Gov. Kossuth has no connection what- 
ever, with that paper. 

The facts are, briefly, that Mr. Gyurman applied for advice, how best 
to occupy his time, and serve the cause of his country. To this Gov. 
Kossuth replied, as may be seen by his letter, to this effect : — " You are 
a distinguished journalist — follow your profession, and you will thereby 
obtain opportunity of serving your country." 

This counsel is Governor Kossuth's present connection with Mr. Gyur- 
man — no other. 



86 

As Governor Kossuth has no connection, dh-ect nor indirect, with the 
paper in question, and no control over Mr. Gyurman, Governor Kossuth 
cannot, on account of his advice to that gentleman to serve his country, 
be, without gross injustice, made responsible for JMr. Gyurman's oc- 
cupying himself with a question of domestic American policy, INJU- 
RIOUS TO THE INTEREST OF HIS OWN COUNTRY, and in 
diametric opposition to Governor Kossuth's decidedly expressed opinion 
as to the duty and policy q/* non-interference in such questions. (///) 



LETTER FROM RICHARD D. WEBB. 

Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 17, 1851. 
To Richard Andrews, Esq., Mayor of Southampton, 

Sir — I beg to enclose a post-office order for one pound, as my contri- 
bution to the collection which is intended to be placed at the disposal of 
M. Kossuth for the Hungarian cause. 

From the accounts 1 have seen in the papers of your own career, 
your independence of spirit and regard to principle, I am induced to 
hope for your favorable notice of the following remarks. 

M. Kossuth's public course, since his arrival in England, and the 
ability he has displayed, have created towards him an amount of enthu- 
siasm and respect, which perhaps no man, and certainly no foreigner, 
ever secured in the same space of time. These sentiments have been 
perfectly spontaneous ; they are not attributable to government influence, 
court favor, the countenance of the aristocracy, or to any thing but admi- 
ration for the man, and interest in his cause. The feeling is national 
and hearty, equally honorable to England and to Kossuth. 

It is of the utmost importance that this confidence should be main- 
tained during his stay in the United States, and this can only be effected 
by his strict adherence to consistency while in that country. 

In no respect has M. Kossuth's ability been more wonderfully evinced 
than in his quickness of apprehension, his readiness of perception of the 
complicated machinery of English society, his appreciation of the im- 
portance of our municipal institutions, his apt quotations from our poets, 
and the amazing facility with which he comprehends the state of national 
and even of local public opinion amongst us. 

This being the case, when he visits the United States, nobody will 
believe that he can remain ignorant, that the great republic contains a 
nation of bondmen nearly as numerous as the Magyars, and that their 
condition as to civil rights is as much below that of the Neapolitans, as 
the Neapolitans are below the people of England. I allude to the three 
and a half millions of slaves, whilst the half million of free colored 
people are not much better circumstanced, being despised and oppressed 
to a degree horrible in a professedly free and Christian nation. The 
history of the world presents no other instance of a system of such op- 



87 

pression, so maintained by the laws, public opinion, and physical force 
of such a nation. One half of the people of the Union, the inhabitants 
of the slave States, are kept in continual hot water by the dread of servile 
insurrections. Those of the free States are corrupted by their false 
position as assistant jailors of the South. For the sake of union with 
the slaveholder, they are obliged to assist him in retaining posssession 
of his human chattels. 

This state of thing, cannot be maintained without continual resistance 
on the part of the slaves, and of the true lovers of justice in the United 
States. It is upheld by the slaveholders and their abettors in power, by 
passing and upholding laws altogether alien to the genius, or even to the 
existence of liberty. For example, the recent Fugitive Slave Law 
makes the whole Union, including all its free states and free territories, 
one vast hunting ground, on which any fugitive may be pursued and re- 
captured, and every free citizen, no matter how he abhors slavery, is 
liable to be summoned, under penalty of a fine of one thousand dollars 
and imprisonment for six months, to assist in the capture. Kossuth, 
himself, might be called upon in this way, immediately on landing; for 
fugitive slaves are in no part of the Union more likely to be pursued 
than in New York, and nowhere is the pro-slavery spirit more dominant 
than among the merchants and leading men of that great city. Cass, 
Webster, Clay and Fillmore hold their places as nominees of the slave- 
ocracy of the Uniied States, about 130,(100 in number, and who by their 
union, activity, and influence, control the destiny and shape the policy 
of the republic. 

A great portion of the people of the free States will welcome Kossuth 
as he has been welcomed here, heartily, spontaneously, disinterestedly ; 
but her statesmen and her rulers will only try, as the American phrase 
is, ' to make capital out of him,' and to hide, under a pretence of zeal 
for a great foreigner and his cause, their ov.u hostility to impartial liberty 
at home. 

It is of the utmost consequence to M. Kossuth's true lame and Euro- 
pean influence, that he should be aware of this state of things ; that for 
the sake of a hollow support from the main pillars of American slavery, 
he should not withhold his indignant protest against the oppression prac- 
tised in the United States, infinitely exceeding the injustice, cruelty and 
insolence of all the crowned heads of Europe. 

Let M. Kossuth accept the welcome and the hospitality of the United 
States; let him express his gratitude for the kindness he receives, and 
his hope for future assistance to the cause of liberty in Europe ; but let 
him not ignore American slavery. Let him, on the contrary, resolutely 
protest against it, and evince that his consistency and his moral courace 
are equal to his talents and his illustrious reputation. True, he may thus 
lose some of his fair-weather friends, and the good will of those who 
would cover their own shame by the help of his great name ; but he will 
exalt himself to a height of moral sublimity and heroism rarely equalled 
among men. Let him raise his powerful voice in behalf of three millions 
of slaves in a land of freedom. Let him do so for the sake of the 
oppressor as well as the oppressed. 



88 

In his career in Hungary, his captivity, his return, his arrival in Eng- 
land, and his course while there, he has had no warmer sympathizer, no 
more delighted admirer than myself. I visited England merely to see 
him and listen to his voice, and I shall exceedingly rejoice if he withstand 
any temptation to join in with the oppressors of the most pehed and down- 
trodden race on earth, for the sake of any conceivable help these tyrants 
can or may hold out to the trampled nations of Europe. Let him not 
do evil that good may come. 

I am confident that these considerations cannot fail to strike you, and 
I therefore rely upon your bringing them before M. Kossuth, with that 
earnestness which their importance to his reputation for consistency, 
fearlessness, and fidelity to liberty, demands. 

I am, very respecifuUv, yours, 

iilCHARD D. WEBB. 



KOSSUTH'S VISIT TO TI-IE U2IITED STATES. 

Resolution of a Meeting of the Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation 
Society, Scotland, held Nov. 6, 1851 : — 

Whereas, the presence in this country of Louis Kossuth, the friend of 
European liberty, and the prospect of his early departure to America, 
have suggested the conviction that he might prove an important instru- 
ment for the advancement of the cause of the down-trodden and op- 
pressed of that land ; — 

Resolved — That an address be prepared, laying before him the 
condition of the 3,000,000 of slaves in the Southern States of America, 
and appealing to him, as the friend of vniversal liberty, to exert his m- 
fluence in their behalf. 

Eliza Wigham, Secretary. 

To THE Honorable Louis Kossuth, late Governor of Hungary : 

We are members of a Society, whose object it is to embrace every 
opportunity to aid the abolition of slavery throughout the world ; and 
conceiving the present to be such an opportunity, we venture to address 
you, deeming apology unnecessary, in appealing on behalf of liberty 
to the acknowledged champion of that great cause. 

We rejoice that you have been, though for so short a period, an hon- 
ored sojourner on these our shores; but, before you leave them, to claim 
the warm welcome which awaits you on the other side of the Atlantic, 
we feel it incumbent on us to remind you, that, in the United States of 
America, where a free home is tendered to you, there exist upwards of 
3,000,000 of human beings in a state of abject slavery, held as property, 
liable to be bought and sold, and to have their family ties riven asunder 
at the will of a taskmaster ; while all moral and intellectual culture is 
strictly withheld, under laws which enforce stringent penalties, and in 



89 

some cases even death for teaching slaves to read. Yet, though thus 
degraded to the condition of chattels, the love of liberty is strong in the 
breast of these much-injured beings, and their struggles to attain it, 
through trial, danger, and suflering, are equal to any of which we read ; 
but when, through these struggles, they deem that they have secured 
this blessing — when they place their feet on what are called the free 
States of the American Union, instead of receiving the enthusiastic wel- 
come which justly greets the hero of European liberty, they are met by 
a law which forbids, by fines and imprisonment, any one to shelter or 
aid them, and enjoins on all to return them at once to their hopeless 
and cruel bondage, in direct contravention of the law of Jehovah, which 
commands — " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which 
is escaped from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee, even 
among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, 
where it liketh him best ; thou shalt not oppress him.' (Deut. xxiii. 15, 
16.) This is a point which must, we feel assured, powerfully appeal to 
the heart of one who is himself a fugitive from wrong and despotism, 
and who can sympathise with the crushed hopes and sickening of soul 
which must be the lot of these victims of tyranny and oppression. 

We would, then, humbly entreat you to take advantage of the favora- 
ble position in which you will be placed to plead their cause. You, as 
the champion of liberty, will be hailed with enthusiasm by thousands 
who claim to be her most devoted votaries, and among them will be 
those who (with such professions on their lips) yet stand in the position 
of oppressors of their brethren. Oh, then, we beseech you to make 
use of your opportunity to represent to those the degradation and anom- 
aly of their position, and to plead with them at once to forsake it by 
" doing justly, and letting the oppressed go free," We conceive that 
your voice would be endowed with mighty power, and your noble ex- 
ample in having released the bondsmen of your own land would be 
more powerful still ! 

It may be deemed needful of apology, that those of our sex should 
come before one so prominent in station ; but when it is considered that 
wherever oppression rules, the female portion of the afilicted race suffer 
in a threefold degree, and that more than a million and a half of our sisters 
endure unexampled cruelty and degradation in the Southern States of 
America, it will surely be forgiven us that we attempt to plead their 
cause. 

In conclusion, allow us once more to entreat, that by your continued 
and constant advocacy of the rights of man, you may assail oppression 
in every form ; and may the Most High bless and sustain you, and per- 
mit you to see your reward in the peaceful and joyful enfranchisement, 
not only of your own, but of all the nations of the earth. 
We are, most respectfully. 

The Committee of the Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation Society, 

Sarah J. Wigham, President. 

Edinburgh, Nov. 18, 1851. 

11 



90 



TO THE ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND 

IRELAND. 

Believing it to be a just and wise principle of action, on the part of 
anti-slavery men, to hold men to their own avowed principles, especially 
those men who come before the world prominently as the advocates of 
human rights, I deemed it my duty to address the following letter to M. 
Kossuth on his arrival in England, and 1 now publish it, as he has sailed 
for the United States of America, that you, my friends, may have your 
attention drawn to his course of conduct while in that land. He did not 
reply to my letter. 

This eminent man is not entitled to be 'let alone.' The world — the 
friends of the slave everywhere — the opposers of tyranny in every land 
— those who would honestly exclaim against oppression under every 
shape and form — are all bound to watch his motions and scrutinize his 
conduct. The courage and the integrity of M. Kossuth will soon be 
deeply tested ; he has voluntarily offered himself to the trial ; and if he 
comes off unspotted, he will be as pure gold well tried in the fire. If he 
shall fall beneath the pro-slavery sentiment of America, he will inflict a 
wound upon liberty by weakening men's faith, and causing many to 
despair of the ultimate triumph of truth and justice in the world. 

Indications of the quality of M. Kossuth's reception in America by the 
enemies of freedom are already abroad. That he will have the faithful- 
ness and the moral courage to brave their hostility I doubt, seeing that he 
is rushing voluntarily into the lion's mouth ; but as I have been told that 
he liberated five hundred thousand serfs in his own country, I hope and 
pray that he may be found faithful to the colored man in America ; and 
in the words of Gerrit Smith — an American, and a man dear to abolition- 
ists the world over — I conclude : — 

' My reference to Hungarian heroes reminds me of the glorious re- 
ception which this deeply hypocritical nation, standing with its feet up- 
on the throats of oppressed millions, is preparing to give to Kossuth. It 
flatters itself that he will not prove himself to be the enemy of American 
as well as of Austrian oppression ; and that his sympathies, instead of 
being commensurate with the whole human family, will be found to be 
governed by country and caste. Thrice happy will it be — though to the 
unutterable dismay and chagrin of this guilty nation — if Kossuth shall, 
on American soil, confess himself to be the brother of all men — if Kos- 
suth shall, on American soil, give proof that he is a man, instead of a 
mere Hungarian !' 

Fellow-laborers and friends, I remain faithfully yours, 

James Haughton. 

Dublin, Nov. 21, 1851. 

' TO M. KOSSUTH, IN LONDON. 

Sir — You are now in a land where a man may at least give utterance 
to the thoughts of his mind, in which the heart may vent itself in articulate 



91 

breathings in favor of freedom. Go not, I pray you, to America — set not 
the sole of your foot on that soil which is trodden by three millions of 
slaves, and on whose behalf you, even you, dare not utter one sympa- 
thetic word. In the so-called 'free states' of America, your deeds in favor 
of humanity, if they still warm your heart, and give birth in your soul to the 
language of freedom, will earn for you nothing but contempt and deris- 
ion from the party who will surround you. In the 'slave states,' the hal- 
ter awaits the man who whispers the accents of liberty within their bor- 
ders. 

In the former, you may escape the insults of mean men ; in the latter, 
you may not be subjected to the death I have indicated ; but it will be on 
one condition only. You must be no longer Louis Kossuth — you must 
sink yourself to a level — and, oh ! God, what a miserable condition of 
humanity that level is — with men-stealers. Your once noble nature, 
which made you the admiration of the true-hearted among all nations, 
will no longer shed its halo around your name. Now you are the cham- 
pion of liberty, one of those men whose names are pronounced with affec- 
tion, because they are synonymous with human progress in the road of 
advancement and of civilization. In that land of whips and chains, your 
name and your fame will be tarnished, because your tongue must be 
mute on the great topic of universal liberty. 

Taking into consideration the advantages possessed by the Americans, 
and the high professions they make of liberty and equality before the 
world, there is not, and there never was, a nation so dishonored ; and so 
deep and damning is their moral delinquency on the question of human 
rights, that few Europeans who visit them escape pollution of soul. Few 
Europeans in the United States of America have the manliness to stand 
forward on behalf of the God-given rights of the colored race. All, near- 
ly all of them, are cowards in the maintenance of truth and justice ; they 
shrink before the base public opinion of that guilty nation. 

Sir, I beg of you not to go to the United States of America, and I re- 
spectfully ask you to tell the world that you keep at a distance from that 
land, because that there your brothers and your sisters are ranked with 
creeping things, and the beasts of the fields, and made merchandise of 
by their fellows. 

If you act in this noble manner, your name will continue great be- 
fore the nations ; moihers will teach children to lisp it with delight. It 
will be a name long held in reverence by mankind. 

Go to America, and listen to the blandishments of women-whippers 
and cradle-plunderers — of a race of Haynaus, who spare not the lash 
upon woman's flesh — and the brightness of your name is sullied forever. 
Tyrants will rejoice, and the friends of freedom will weep, because of 
your renunciation of those high and noble principles of liberty with which 
your name and your acts are now associated in the minds of men. 

If you be the great souled man that I hope and believe you are, and of 
which no doubt should rest on my mind, were it not for your intention to 
accept the hospitality of that people, whose contact, it seems to me, you 
ought to spurn with feelings of abhorrence similar to those which must 
animate you against Austrian and Russian tyranny, it would be an insult 



92 

to you for me to offer an apology for thus addressing you ; therefore, I 
make none. I address you with the freedom which one free man may 
use to another, upon a question involving great human rights, and I trust 
you vi^ill feel that I have done so respectfully. 

I am, Sir, with sincere admiration of your character, respectfully 
yours, James Haughton. 

35, Eccles-street, Dublin, 4th Nov. 1851. 

p. S. — I send this through my friend Mr. Charles Gilpin, who can in- 
form you who I am, if you incline to inquire into my character. 

J. H.' 



From the " British Frieud. ' 

LOUIS KOSSUTH, PEACE, AND AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

Few of our readers, we apprehend, but have heard of the name, and 
fewer still but have sympathized in the sufferings of this distinguished 
Hungarian, in his desire for the liberty of his fellow-countrj'men. For 
the last few weeks, indeed, his has been the most prominent name be- 
fore the public ; and attentions, such as rarely fall to the lot of public 
men, have, it may truly be said, been even showered upon him. In the 
midst of so much admiration and excitement, we were fearful lest some 
of our public spirited Peace friends should, as with the torrent, be led 
away from the consistent ground of its advocacy. This feeling appears 
to have impressed the Committee of the London Society, and gave occa- 
sion for the truly excellent Address to the friends of the cause through- 
out the country. It will be found in another place ; and we commend it 
to the careful perusal of our readers. It will well repay the trouble. 

The subject of American Slavery has also, we observe, through the 
newspapers and other channels of information, been brought under the 
notice of Kossuth. We rejoice that this has been the case. May he bear 
a faithful testimony in behalf of the slave in America, and not copy the 
inglorious course of Theobald Mathew, who turned his back on his anti- 
slavery principles ! We had the privilege of perusing several of the ad- 
dresses sent to Kossuth on this subject, and have been much pleased with 
him. The following was sent from this city, and was presented through 
our kind friend, Charles Gilpin ; 

To Louis Kossuth, late Governor of Hungary. 

The undersigned beg respectfully to address you, on behalf of the 
Glasgow Emancipation Society, and the Glasgow Female Anti-Slavery 
Society, which have for their object the abolition of slavery throughout 
the world. 



93 

In the Address which was lately presented to you by our fellow-citi- 
zens, congratulating you upon your happy liberation from your recent 
imprisonment, and sympathizing with you in your desires for the deliv- 
erance of your oppressed countrymen, some of us not only interested 
ourselves, but, as lovers of liberty, gave it our cordial concurrence. 

Our object, however, in wishing to engage your attention at the pres- 
ent time, has reference more especially to your intended visit to the 
United States of America. 

We yield to none in our admiration of the free institutions of that great 
and growing country. But, as the friends of universal emancipation, we 
deem it right to acquaint you that, in that enlightened community, whose 
Constitution declares that 'all men are born free and equal,' there are 
held in ignominious and degrading chattel slavery nearly three and a half 
millions of our fellow-men — deprived of all right to their own persons, or 
those of their own wives and children — for no other reason than that of 
possessing 'a skin not colored like our own ;' and to retain whom in hope- 
less bondage, the whole of the constituted authorities of the American 
people are notoriously and unmistakeably pledged — of which the enact- 
ment by their Congress last year of the 'Fugitive Slave Bill,' is a recent 
and most lamentable manifestation. 

While, therefore, we admire the noble generosity of the United States 
Government, in providing a refuge in that land for you and your exiled 
countrymen, we entreat you, as the liberator of the serfs in your own 
country, that whilst you may be gratefully acknowledging the benevolent 
conduct of the American nation, you will not fail, at the same time, to 
lift up your voice in behalf of the enslaved millions in their midst; and 
that, viewing these our degraded and oppressed sable brethren as being, 
equally with yourself and us of the white race, the creation of the same 
God, and objects of the same redemption through Jesus Christ, you will 
use your iniluence, in every proper and prudent way, for hastening the 
day of their entire emancipation. 

Allow us, in conclusion, to assure you that we shall continue to cher- 
ish the warmest desires for your welfare ; and to pray that it may please 
the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, not only to grant you His merciful 
])reservation, but that your humane and patriotic aspirations for the liber- 
ty and prosperity of your beloved Hungary may be speedily, and peace- 
fully, and happily fulfilled. 

Signed in name and on behalf of the aforesaid societies, at Glasgow, 
this eleventh day of November, one thousand eight hundred and fitfy-one. 

Andrew Paton, ) Secretaries to the Glasgow 



William Smeal, j Emancipation Society. 

Mary Welsh, ) Secretaries to the Glasgc 

Eliza Anderson, ) Female A. S. Society. 



94 

By the following paragraph, which is copied from the last number of 
the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter, it appears that Kossuth 
was supplied with all needful intelligence in England on the subject of 
American slavery. He appears to have made no reply in any instance 
to the numerous anti-slavery addresses that were sent to him. 

In directing the attention of our readers to the Resolution of the Edin- 
burgh Emancipation Society, which will be found in another part of the 
Reporter, we may mention that a deputation of the Committee of the 
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was favored with a personal 
interview with M. Kossuth, when he was presented with abundant mate- 
rials whereupon to found his judgment of the character of American 
slavery, as well as of slavery and the slave-trade throughout the world. 



EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS, ESQ. 

Delivered at the National Anti- Slavery Bazaar, in Boston, Dec. 21th, 
1852. 

It is to such a nation as this that Kossuth comes — a nation sensitive to 
a fault, servile to the last degree ; catching, with a watchful interest, the 
first breath of foreign criticism ; hugging to its bosom with delight any 
eulogy that falls from the lips of noted men on the other side of the water. 
Is there any thing peculiar and to be remarked in the state of public 
affairs at the time of his visit ? Yes, he comes precisely at the moment 
when one absorbing question has banished all others from the nation's 
mind. The great classes and interests of society crash and jostle against 
each other like mighty vessels in a storm. The slave question having, 
like Aaron's rod, devoured all other political issues, claims and keeps the 
undivided attention of excited millions. The lips of every public man are 
anxiously watched, and his slightest word scanned with relentless scru- 
tiny. Pulpit and forum are both busy in the discussion of the profound- 
est questions as to the relations of the citizen to the law, and the real 
value and strength of our Institutions. For the first time, some men have 
begun to doubt whether they are compatible with free speech and Chris- 
tianity : while men, called statesmen, either emboldened by success, or 
hardened by desperate ambition, have been found ready openly to de- 
clare that the Union is possible only on condition that the sons of the 
Pilgrims consent to hunt slaves, and smother those instincts which have 
made the poets of all ages love to linger around the dungeon of the patriot 
and the martyr — with Tell and Wallace, with Lafayette and Silvio 
Pellico — with Charles Stuart hunted by the soldiery of Cromwell, and the 
Covenanter shot by that same Charles Stuart at his cottage door. Kos- 
suth lands on a shore where humanity is illegal, and obedience to the 
Golden Rule of Christianity has just been declared treason. He was not 
ignorant of this state of things. Private individuals and public societies 
in England had placed in his hands ample evidence of the real character 



95 

of American institutions, and tlie critical state of public opinion on the 
momentous question of enslaving every sixth man, woman and child in 
the land. Some besought him to pause ere he set foot on a land cursed 
with such a monstrous system of oppression, and all bade him beware of 
the temptation to which his position subjected him, of strengthening by 
his silence or approbation the hands of the oppressor. At such a time, 
and in the midst of such a people, we have a right to claim that he should 
walk carefully. He knew that he must throw the weight of his mighty 
name in the scale of one party or the other, that was waging war for 
principle on this side the Atlantic. What has he done .? JNo man ex- 
pected that he should go into anti-slavery meetings ; that he should take 
ground against the Fugitive Slave Bill. No. But you remember, when 
Alexander went to see Diogenes, and asked what he could do for him, 
the reply of the cynic was, "Stand out of my light!" Now, the slave 
had at least the right to say to Kossuth, "Stand out of my light! Let 
the glowing sun of the humanity of the nineteenth century strike full up- 
on me. Let the light and heat of those generous ideas, with which God 
has inspired some of the white race, fall upon me, to melt these chains of 
mine ; and let not your lavish praise be the spell that shall lull to sleep 
the half-awakened conscience of a people who have just begun to attend 
to the neglected, and to remember the forgotten. Throw not the weight 
of your great name into the scale of those my enemies, who glory in a 
national prosperity fed out of my veins, and worship a Union cemented 
with my blood." 

Take his speeches. Do they differ from those of the most pro-slavery 
American ? Does he qualify his eulogy, does he limit his praise ? Has 
he a word of sympathy for the oppressed, a hint, even, at any blot on 
our national escutcheon ? Could he have spoken without taking a side, 
unless he had used the most guarded and qualified language .'' Take his 
speeches relating to the Constitution of the United States. Place them 
side by side with the spe.eches of Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate, 
with those of any of the men recognised as supporters of this Union, for 
its very quality of being an added ligament to hold the slave to his 
master. Is not the tone the same ? Is not the eulogy of our Constitu- 
tion as unqualified and as glowing ? Do you ever find the slightest allu- 
sion to the fact, that one-sixth part of the inhabitants under it are denied 
those personal rights which make the sufferings of the Magyar peasant 
tame in comparison .'' Throughout this flood of sublime eloquence which 
he has poured forth with such lavish genius to applauding crowds, when 
has he been heard to speak a word for three millions of people in this 
land, outraged and trampled under foot ; to intimate that he sympathised 
with them; to hint that he knew of their existence? Our country is 
"great, glorious and free ; the land of protection for the persecuted sons 
of freedom among the great brotherhood of nations." This is his lan- 
guage :—.... 

" May your kind anticipations of me be not disappointed ! I am a plain 
man, I have nothing in me but honest fidelity to those principles which 
have made you great, and my most ardent wish is, that my own country 
may be, if not as great as yours, at least as free ^nd as happy, which it 



96 

will be in the establishment of the same great principles. The sounds 
that I now hear seem to me the trumpet of resurrection for down-trodden 
humanity throughout the world." 

What ! free as the land where the Bible is refused to every sixth per- 
son ! Free as the land where it is a crime to learn every sixth person to 
read ! Free as the land where, by statute, every sixth woman may be 
whipped at the public whipping-post! Free as the land where the mur- 
der of the black man, if the deed is perpetrated only in the presence of 
blacks, is secure from legal punishment ! Free as the land, the banks of 
whose Mississippi were lit up with the horrid sight, not seen in Europe 
for two centuries, of a man torn from the hands of justice, and burned in 
his own blood, by a mob, of whom the highest legal authority proclaim- 
ed, afterward, that their act was the act of the people, and above the 
notice of the Judiciary ! Free as the land, the beautiful surface of whose 
Ohio was polluted by the fragments of three presses — the emblems of 
free speech — and no tribunal has taken notice of the deeds ! Free as the 
land, whose prairie has drunk in the first Saxon blood shed for the right 
of free speech for a century and a half — I mean the blood of Lovejoy ! 
Free as the land where the fugitive dares not proclaim his name in the 
cities of New England, and skulks in hiding-places until he can conceal 
himself on board a vessel, and make his way to the kind shelter of Liver- 
pool and London ! Free as the land where a hero worthy to stand by 
the side of Louis Kossuth — I mean Ellen Crafts — (great cheering) — has 
pistols lying at her bed-side for weeks, as protection against your mar- 
shals and your sheriffs, your chief justices and divines, and finds no safe 
refuge until she finds it in the tender mercies of the wife of that poet 
[Byron] who did his service to the cause of freedom at Missolonghi ! (1) 

But what does Kossuth wish for Hungary ? " My most ardent wish is, 

(1) This allusion will be better understood by reading the following statement, copied from 
the London Morning Advertiser :— " Those who have access to the anti-slavery papers of America 
have long been familiar with the eventful history of 'VVilliam and Ellen Craft, from the time 
of their romantic escape from Macon, in Georgia, (Ellen, whose complexion is white, disguised 
as a young Southern planter, her husband personating his slave,) and of their subsequent res- 
idence, and enjoyment of the blessings of freedom, in a peaceful home at Boston, until they 
were driven by the Fugitive Slave Law to seek an asylum in England, (the President of the 
United States having declared by a public document, that he would employ the military force 
of the country for their recapture.) It is now their good fortune, with the assistance of 
friends, to be received as pupils in the Ockham Schools, near Kiply, Surrey. These schools, 
which are partly industrial, were esbtalished by Lady Byron for giving useful education to 
children residing in the rural districts. All the advantages the schools possess are afforded 
to the Crafts, in a mode which is in every respect considerate of their feelings. In addition to 
other braHches of Knowledge, Mr. Craft is cultivating his taste for drawing under an able 
master ; he renders himself useful by giving the boys instruction in carpentering and cabinet- 
making, while Mrs. Craft exerts herself in communicating some of her varied manual ac- 
quirements to the girls. The children are greatly attached to her, and both she and her hus- 
band are happy, industrious, and making progress in their pursuits. The Ockham schools are 
kindly and carefully superintended by the MissesLushington, daughters of Dr. Lushington, of 
Ockham Park, which adjoins Every facility has been given by Lady Byron, by the Misses Lush- 
ington, and by the master and mistress, for admitting and accommodating William and Ellen 
Craft in the establishment, and for renderuig their abode there as advantageous and comfort- 
able to them as possible." 



97 

that my own country may be, if not as great as yours, at least as free and 
as happy, which it will be in the establishment of the same great princi- 
ples." "As free and as happy " ! Is that all that this loving son of Hun- 
gary can ask for his native land ? Would he thrust back to serfdom one 
sixth part of her twelve millions ? Would he not blush to stand so near 
even to Austria, who compels her peasantry to learn to read, and make 
the teaching of every sixth Hungarian a penal offence ? Would he legis- 
late into existence a nation of Flaynaus, and authorise them to whip IVlag- 
yar women ? Would he fill Hungarian prisons with Draytons and Sayeis, 
the Torreys and Fairbanks ? — Hungarian graves with Crandalls and 
Lovejoys ? Would he hang his courts in chains, that his brother nobles 
might drag back their serfs in peace? Before he repeats such a wish, 
let him go and meditate one hour more in that dungeon whence one of 
his comrades went to his grave, and the other came out blind — let him 
send his thoughts back again to that refuge which the Sultan gave him 
when he refused, at the hazard of his Crescent, to surrender to his neigh- 
bor State the Hungarian Craft, Sims, Long, etc., who had escaped and 
claimed his protection. He would, if he be the man the world believes 
him, learn there that he never could consent to make Hungary what 
these United States are, and that he begs aid for his loved countrymen 
too dear, if he begs it by words not truthful from the lips of Louis Kos- 
suth. 

" Happy art thou, free nation of America, that thou hast founded thy 
house upon the only solid basis of a nation's liberty ! Thou hast no 
tyrants among thee, to throw the apple of Eros in thy Union ! Thou 
hast no tyrants to raise the fury of hatred in thy national family!" This 
he says, when he knows that the newspapers of one half the Union are 
full of the records of the atrocities perpetrated by the white men upon 
the blacks, guilty of nothing but a skin not colored like their own. I 
defy Kossuth to find in any German paper, at the very fount of Aus- 
trian despotism, such advertisements as daily fill our Southern presses. I 
defy him to match the crimes and wickedness of the press that leagues 
with despotism in this land. Mothers sold with their infants, six weeks 
old, together or apart. I defy him to match the advertisements coming 
from Southern States, calling for a man or his head : — Fifty dollars re- 
ward for a man, dead or alive ! 

A land with three millions of slaves, and not a tyrant ! Free speech 
achieved on the floor of Congress only after a dozen years of struggle, 
and still a penal offence in one half the Union — our jails filled with men 
guilty only of helping a brother man to his liberty — yet the keen eyes of 
this great soul can see nothing but "a solid basis of liberty" ! Southern 
Conventions to dissolve the Union — the law executed in Boston at the 
point of the bayonet — riot, as the Government calls it, stalking through 
the streets of Detroit, Buffalo, Syracuse, Boston, Christiana and New 
York — Massachusetts denied by statute the right to bring an action in 
South Carolina — Georgia setting a price on the head of a Boston prin- 
ter — Senators threatening to hang a brother Senator, should he set foot 
in a Southern State — the very tenants of the pulpit silenced, or subjected 
13 



98 

to a coat of tar and feathers — one State proposing to exclude the com- 
merce of another — demagogue statesmen perambulating the country to 
save the Union — honest men exhorted to stifle their consciences, for fear 
the shio of state should sink amid the breakers — the whole nation at last 
waking to Jefferson's conviction, that we have " the wolf by the ears ; 
we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go!" Yet this man, whose 
" tempest-tossed life has somewhat sharpened the eyes of his soul," can 
see only a " solid basis of liberty " ! " no tyrant to throw the apple of 
Eros in the Union ; " " to raise the fury of hatred in thy national family " ! 
What place has such fulsome and baseless eulogy on the lips of a truthful 
and honest man ? 

Kossuth is filled with overflowing love for Hungary, which lies under 
the foot of the Czar. Now, let us suppose a parallel case. Suppose that 
Lafayette were now living, and that the great Frenchman had seen his 
idea of liberty for France go down in blood. We will suppose that, 
despairing of doing any thing at home, he had concluded to appeal to 
some foreign nation for aid ; that Fayette, with his European reputation, 
considered the great apostle of human liberty, and his voice the seal and 
stamp of republican principle, Fayette goes to Vienna for help. He 
goes to Austria for help for his side in French politics, as Kossuth comes 
here for help on his side of Hungarian politics ; to Austria, with Hun- 
gary bleeding at her feet, and Kossuth in exile. 

After all, it is national politics in which he asks us to interfere, at 
whatever hazard. What is Hungary ? Twelve millions of people under 
the iron foot of the Russian Czar, by means of his puppet, the Emperor 
of Austria. What says he to America > " I do not wish to be entangled 
with American politics." As one of our own citizens said to me the 
other day, — " What comes this fellow here for ? I do not wish to med- 
dle with Austrian politics." The question of the liberty of twelve 
millions in Hungary is as much a question of Austrian politics as the 
question of three million of slaves under the United States Constitution, 
and the human beings sent back as chattels under the Fugitive Slave Law 
of 1851, is a question of American politics. 

Do not think, either, that I am so far out of the way in sending Fayelte 
to Austria. Let me turn aside before I finish the illustration. What is 
Austria ? Who is Haynau ? The culminating star of Austrian atrocity 
— the General whose name recalls every thing that is most monstrous in 
Austria's treatment of down-trodden Hungary. Haynau ! What was it 
that the European press charged upon him as his greatest atrocity > 
Why, he whipped one woman, a countess ; he whipped one woman at the 
public whipping-post. The press of Europe, from the banks of the 
"Volga to the banks of the Seine, from the 'Times' up to 'Punch,' 
denounced him as a libel on the civilization of the nineteenth century, as 
a brute who had disgraced even the brutality of the camp, when he dared, 
in the face of Europe, in the nineteenth century, thus to outrage the 
common feeling of the world. That is Haynau ; but he followed the 
example of half the States of this Union. There, woman-whipping is 
the law and custom of the land. There are a hundred thousand men 



99 

and women in this nation, who have a right by law to whip a million and 
a half of women in fifteen of the Southern States. " One murder makes 
a villain ; millions, a hero." To whip one woman makes a monster ; 
but to whip millions by statute is to make a country, in regard to which it 
is the highest wish of Kossuth that Hungary may be like her ! 

In view of this and similar facts, I say, there is not a word of the 
language which he applies to Austria, that is not equally applicable to the 
land which imprisons Drayton and Sayres in the jails of the capital, that 
pursues Shadrach without mercy — a land where women are whipped by 
statute — and there is not a word of all this eloquent eulogy of ourselves 
which is not equally applicable to Austria. 

I send Fayette, therefore, to Austria. Kossuth, sheltered by the Cres- 
cent, hears of the coming of Fayette to Vienna. How his heart beats ! 
Now, from that voice, venerable with its age, strong in the millions that 
wait its tones, I shall hear the voice of a deliverer. Now the heart of 
every down-trodden Hungarian is to leap for joy ; now a sunbeam shall 
light up the dungeons of my old comrades, for Fayette has entered 
Vienna. Listen ! The first note that is borne to him down the waters 
of the Danube is that of Fayette speaking to Haynau of his " glorious 
entry into the capital of Hungary," as Kossuth speaks of the entrance 
of the Americans into the capital of Mexico. He listens, and every 
word of the eloquent Frenchman is praise of the Austrian emperor and 
Austrian institutions ; and he says — words Kossuth had used to the 
Americans — " Cling to your Constitution and your institutions. Cling to 
them! Let no misguided citizen ever dream of tearing down the house, 
because there is discomfort in one of the chambers." And suppose he 
hears him say — " Let no misguided Magyar ever dream of tearing asun- 
der this beautiful empire of Austria, because there is discomfort in 
that one chamber of Hungary." What would have been his tone in 
answering Fayette ? He would have said — " Recreant ! What right 
have you to purchase safety to France, by sacrificing the people of Hun- 
gary, and by eulogising tyrants? " (Tremendous cheering.) 

Just such is the message that the Ameiican slaves send back to Kos- 
suth : — " Recreant ! if you could not speak a free word for liberty the 
wide world over, why came you to this land stained and polluted by our 
blood } What right had you to purchase with your silence aid for Hun- 
gary, or throw the weight of your great name into the scale of our 
despair } " " O, no ! " said O'Connell, " I will never tread that Ameri- 
can strand, until she removes the curse of American slavery from her 
statute book." It was well he did not. Hardly any man can stand 
against the temptation of our great political iniquity. 

Kossuth has come here on the glorious mission of redeeming Hungary. 
God speed Him in every step — honest step — that he takes to lift up the 
Magyar, that he may raise the nations of Europe ! But, O ! if he only 
lift her up by using for his fulcrum the chains of the slave ; if he only 
lift her up by using language which shall strengthen the hearts of the 
oppressor in this land, which shall make those who love this Union lay 
the flattering unction to their souls — Kossuth is an experienced man, he 



100 

understands our institutions, and sees nothing to blame in them — then 
perish Hungary before he succeed ! 

The very Congress that invited this man to our shores, and passed a 
resokition placing a national vessel at his service, is the very Congress 
that passed the Fugitive Slave Bill. He knows it. The very men who 
sent for the Hungarian exile, condemned to hopeless bondage hundreds, 
who, but for that law, might have been saved. Why, if you had stood, 
as some of us have done, by the domestic firesides of hundreds of fugi- 
tive slaves, who had been happy at the North for ten, fifteen, aye, twenty 
years, and had seen the utter wretchedness of those persecuted ones, 
when they felt that father, or mother, or wife, or child, must be borne 
away to the Southern plantation, or must make themselves exiles by 
going to Canada or even to England, and reflected that these scenes are 
wrought by the very men who have welcomed the great Hungarian to 
this country, and then, when he came, that he had no words but words of 
eulogy, how should you judge by his spirit ? 

Bear with me in yet one illustration more. Men are known by the 
company they keep. It seems to me right to judge Kossuth so in this 
instance. Suppose a friend of liberty had gone across the water six 
months ago. Would he have sought the society of the illustrious free 
spirits that were the apostles of the great ideas of that country, or would 
he have gone to the court of the Ceesar ? Would he have gone to the 
palace of Vienna, or to Metternich ? Would he have gone to the coun- 
try seat of Haynau, or to any other name recognised the wide world over 
as an apostate to principle, to humanity, to equal rights ? Or would he 
have gone to that Kossuth, that Dembinski — to the men who are now 
exiles, or imprisoned throughout the length of the Austrian empire — to 
the graves of those who have been murdered in battle, or in Haynau's 
camp ? Would not their prisons have been the first scenes of his visit, 
that he might give his sympathy to the men who were suffering in a 
cause so dear to his heart ? Certainly. We go where we are magneti- 
cally drawn ; we cannot resist rushing into the arms of those whose 
hearts beat responsive to our own. If a Socialist visits Paris, he goes 
to Proudhomme. If an anti-slavery man goes to Paris, he goes to de 
Broglie. As Dr. Jackson said of his lamented son, who died recently in 
Boston, in whatever company he went, he nailed his flag high, that all 
men might know his principles. [Cheers.] Now, I say, that Louis 
Kossuth did not nail the flag of his principles high to the mast ; if he 
had, Hangman Foote would never have invited him to Washington. The 
world-wide love of man, the burning enthusiasm, the hatred of oppres- 
sion, that gathered two hundred thousand living hearts in Hungary, 
melted them into one giant mass by the magnetism of his great nature, 
and hurled them like an awful thunderbolt against the throne of the 
Caesars — all that has not crossed the Atlantic ; if it had, the pro-slavery 
divines of New York — the men who say they dare not utter even a 
prayer for the three millions of blacks — would never have gathered 
around it. He will go to Washington, and to whom ? To Daniel Web- 
ster and Hangman Foote. Had he been the Kossuth of Pesth, the Kos- 



101 

suth whom Georgey betrayed, he would have gone to the prison of Drayton 
and Sayres, to see the men who have been made a sacrifice for the crime 
of loving their brother man as they loved themselves. He would have 
said, " No matter what your laws are. I broke the laws of Austria for 
the Magyar." The European who has rent parchments to rags when 
they stood in the way of liberty — who has trampled on lav/s a thousand 
years old when they stood in the way of humanity and justice — that man, 
who comes to America, and goes not to the prison of Drayton and Sayres, 
to the court house where the men are being tried for the Christiana riots, 
as our press calls them, has lowered the tone of his spirit, and compro- 
mised that great fame which came over before him. 

That is the indictment the Abolitionists bring against him. It is not 
that he is a coward, and that his philanthropy shrinks before the public 
opinion of America. No ! We do not know that he was ever afraid of 
any thing below God. Though no coward, he is selfish. Just as selfish 
as all patriotism is. He loves his own land, and to that land he is willing 
to sacrifice the duty he owes to truth. " An advocate," said Lord 
Brougham, defending Queen Caroline, " by the sacred duty which he 
owes his client, knows in the discharge of that ofiice, but one person in 
the world, that client, and none other. To save that client by all 
expedient means — to protect that client at all hazards and costs to all 
others, and among others to himself — is the highest and most unquestioned 
of his duties; and he must not regard the alarm, the suffering, the tor- 
ment, the destruction which he may bring upon any other.'' Now, that, 
in another form, is Kossuth's patriotism. " I love Hungary," says he, 
" stand aside, all ye other races ! I will so mould my language, I will so 
pour out my eulogy, I will so lavish my praise, that I will save her ; let 
other races take care of themselves." This, then, is the criticism of the 
anti-slavery reformer. "Whoever strengthens the American Union, 
strengthens the chain of the American slave. Whoever praises the 
policy of this country since the Constitution began, whether in Florida 
or Mexico, strengthens that opinion which supports it. Whoever 
strengthens that opinion, is a foe to the slave. Louis Kossuth has thrown 
at the feet of the Union party the weight of his gigantic name, and every 
conscience that had begun to be troubled is put to sleep : " Kossuth is 
free from American prejudices, unbiased and disinterested. He tells me 
to love the Union. So I will observe the laws ; so I will banish the 
slave from my thoughts, as Kossuth does. Kossuth saves Hungary by 
subserviency to the South ; I will save the Union in the same way." 
This is the same old principle, the world round. How much truth may 
I sacrifice, in order to save some little Zoar in which God has given me 
a beiiig.'' How much silencing of the truth is permitted us here by God, 
in order that we may help him govern the world .'' How many noble 
instincts may we stifle, how many despots' hearts may we comfort, to 
help God save America ? None! (Great cheering.) No, he did not 
send us into the world to free the slave. He did not send Kossuth into 
the world to save Hungary. He sent him into the world to speak his 
whole truth, for the white and the black man ; to feel as a man for his 



102 

brother man, and to speak toJiat he felt ; then, if Hungary is saved, to 
join in the jubilee with which all would celebrate her salvation. 
(Loud cheers.) O, men are so ready to take upon themselves the great 
responsibility of doing some great work in the world. I have got to save 
the Union, and therefore I must return fugitive slaves, I have got to 
redeem Hungary, and therefore I may be an American doughface, instead 
of an European patriot. 

This the verdict that history shall bring. When, hereafter, the histo- 
rian is telling the story of some great man, who has done service to his 
kind, if he be one who loved only his own race, or color, or country, 
and stopped there — who loved a Frenchman, because he was himself 
born in Paris — or, born in London, was ready to serve all Englishmen — 
if he were one who has rendered some great service to a single nation, 
or loved his own race and hated all others, he will say, " This was a 
great man — he was the Kossuth, the Webster of the day." But when 
he shall dip his pen in the sunlight, to immortalize some greater spirit 
than that, — one whose philanthropy, like the ocean, knew no bounds ; 
the eagle of whose spirit, towering in its pride of place, looked down 
upon the earth, and saw blotted out from the mighty scene, all the little 
lines with which man had narrowed it out, and took in every human 
being as a brother, and loved all races with an equal humanity ; who 
never silenced the truth, that the white man might longer trample on the 
black, or thought the safety of his own land cheaply bought at the price 
of lavish eulogies laid on the footstool of petty tyrants — he shall dip his 
pen in the gorgeous hues of the sunlight, and write, " This was a greater 
man yet ; he was a Garrison, an O Connell, a Fayette." [Loud and 
continued cheers.] 

Now this is the exact difference which the anti-slavery world recog- 
nizes in Kossuth. He is the man who has been content to borrow his 
tone from the atmosphere in which he moved. He has offered American 
patriotism the incense of his eulogy, and has, by that course, consented 
to do service to the dark spirit of American slavery. We find no fault 
with any expression of his gratitude. But gratitude to the administration 
of the country was not necessarily eulogy of all its institutions. A man 
may thank a benefactor, without endorsing his character ! He came to 
a land where every sixth man is a slave, and where the national banner 
clings to the flag-staff heavy with blood, and the lips which proclaimed 
the freedom of the Hungarian serf have found no occasion but for eulogy ! 
He came to a land where the Bible is prohibited by statute to three mil- 
lions of human beings, to whom, also, the marriage mstitution is a for- 
bidden blessing, and the eminently religious Hungarian can find no 
occasion but for eulogy ! He came to a land where almost every village 
in the free States has more than one trembling fugitive who dare not tell 
his true name, and the great martyr for personal liberty can find no 
occasion but for eulogy ! He came to a land, of the fundamental 
arrangement of whose government, John Quincy Adams says, " it is not 
in the compass of human imagination to devise a more perfect exempli- 
fication of the art of committing the lamb to the custody of the wolf," 



103 

and to " call whose government a democracy would be to insult the 
understanding of mankind ; " and the apostle of civil liberty sees only a 
" glorious republic " — " great, glorious and free " — " the pillar of free- 
dom ; " and all he prays for his own country is,' that "she may be as 
free and as happy in the establishment of the same great principles " ! 

He comes to a land where, according to the same indisputable authority, 
" a knot of slaveholders give the law and prescribe the policy of the 
country," and the indignant foe of Austrian rule, " his eyes sharpened by 
a tempest-tossed life," finds no occasion but for eulogy ! He comes to 
a land where, says the same venerable statesman, " the preservation, 
propagation and perpetuation of slavery is the vital and animating spirit 
of the National Government," and where, since 1780, slavery, slave- 
holding, slave-breeding and slave-trading have formed the whole founda- 
tion of the policy of the Federal Government ; and " the sharpened 
eyes" of the European patriot, whose baptism of liberty was the damps 
of an Austrian dungeon, sees only " a glorious country " — " great, glorious 
and free ; " "a glorious republic ; " her " glorious flag the proud ensign 
of man's divine origin;" the "asylum of oppressed humanity;" her 
welcome, " the trumpet of resurrection for down-trodden humanity 
throughout the world ; " her language, " the language of liberty, and 
therefore the language of the people of the United States ; " his confi- 
dence of ultimate success springs from the thought, that " there is a God 
in heaven, and a people like the Americans on earth." He makes haste 
to declare how easy it is to read the heart of this slaveholding, slave- 
breeding and slave-trading people, because " it is open like nature, and 
unpolluted like a virgin's heart ; " that others may " shut their eyes to the 
cry of oppressed humanity, because they regard duties, but through the 
glass of petty interests," but this slaveholding and slave-trading people 
" has that instinct of justice and generosity, which is the stamp of man- 
kind's heavenly origin ; knows that it has the power to restore the law of 
nations to the principles of justice and right, and is willing to be as good 
as its power is great" ! ! Does the great statesmanlike heart of Kossuth 
believe all this? If he does not, is the most devoted lover of Liberty 
ever bound to lay on her altar the sacrifice of hypocrisy ? or was any 
cause ever yet strengthened by lips that belied the heart ? The world 
thought his lips had been touched by a coal from the altar of the living 
God — and, lo ! he has bargained away his very utterance, and presents 
himself before us thus cheaply bought and gagged ! 

Men say, " Why criticise Kossuth, when you have every reason to 
believe that, in his heart, he sympathises with you ? " Just for that 
reason we criticise him. Because he endorses the great American lie, 
that to save or benefit one class, a man may righteously sacrifice the 
rights of another. Because, while the American world knows him to 
be a hater of slavery, they see him silent on that question — hear him 
eulogise a nation of slaveholders, to carry his point. What greater 
wrong can he do the slave, than thus to strengthen his foes in their own 
good opinion of themselves, and weaken, by his example, that public 
rebuke to which the negro can alone trust for ultimate redemption ? He 



104 

whom tyrants hated on the other side the ocean, is the favored guest of 
tyrants on this side. He eats salt with the Haynaus of Washington. It 
is high time that he explain to Europe the geographical morality that 
enables him to do it, and be still the Louis Kossuth whose wandering 
steps Russian vengeance thought it worth while to follow. Could he 
have filed his tongue as cunningly at home, why should he have ever left 
Pesth ? Or shall we deem him a man hotly indignant at his own wrongs, 
and those of his own blood, but cold to those of one whose skin is some 
few shades darker than his own ? 

His parallel of the non-intervention of States is not a just one. No 
one asks England to interfere with our slave question ; but on the other 
hand, she pronounces no opinion on our government in general ; she 
does not expend herself in glowing, unqualified, and indiscriminate eulogy 
of our institutions, or strengthen the hands of their friends, by holding 
them up to the world as the first hope of redemption to oppressed nations, 
and the fairest model of republican perfection. The same is true of 
Kossuth. While at home, all the world asked of him was to stand in 
his lot, and do gallant battle for his land and people. When he comes 
here, and gives the listening world his judgment of our institutions — 
mingling himself thus, whether he will or no, with our great national 
struggle — he owes it to truth, to liberty and the slave, that such judg- 
ment should be a true, discriminating and honest one. If the opinion he 
has pronounced be his honest judgment, what will men say of that heart 
whose halting sympathies allowed him to overlook a system of oppression 
which Wesley called the " vilest the sun ever saw," and which made 
Jefferson " tremble for his country, when he remembered that God was 
just".'' If it be not his honest judgment, but only fawning words, 
uttered to gain an end, what will men say of the Jesuit, who thought that 
he owed it to Hungary to serve her, or, indeed, imagined that he could 
serve her, by his lips that clung not to the truth } When Roman's ran- 
som was weighing out, the insolent conqueror flung his sword into the 
scale against it. So at the moment when the fate of the slave hangs 
trembling in the balance, and all he has wherewith to weigh down the 
brute strength of his oppressor is the sympathy of good men and the 
indignant protest of the world, Kossuth, with the eyes of the nation fixed 
upon him, throws the weight of his great name, of his lavish and un- 
qualified approbation, into the scale of the slaveholder, crying out all the 
while, " Non-intervention ! " 

Truly, these eyes that see no race but the Magyar, and no wrongs but 
those of Hungary, may be the eyes of a great Hungarian and a patriot, 
but God forbid they should be the eyes of a man or a Christian ! 

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Every heart responds to the 
classic patriot, and feels that it is indeed good and honorable to die for 
one's country, but every true man feels likewise, with old Fletcher of 
Saltoun, that while he " would die to serve his country, he would not do 
a base act to save her." 



105 



OFFICIAL ANTI-SLAVEEY ACTION. 

The following Resolutions were adopted at the Annual Meeting of 
the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, held in Faneuil Hall, 
Boston, on the evening of Jan. 30, 1852 : — 

1. Resolved, That when we consider the critical state of parties and 
the public mind, in relation to slavery ; the fearful struggle going on 
between the principles of liberty and those of a merciless despotism, — 
the friends of the one being a Spartan band, those of the other a Persian 
host ; when we consider, also, the anxious expectation with which the 
coming of Louis Kossuth was watched — the momentous weight attached 
to his lightest word — his eloquent professions of devotion to the princi- 
ples of impartial liberty, and to being governed by the higher law of 
humanity and universal freedom — and his position as the recognized 
leader of one half of the reformers of Europe — we are forced to regard 
his course, in relation to American slavery — his unqualified eulogies of 
our Constitution and its present administration — his indiscriminate praise 
of our leading statesmen — his endorsement, in such glowing terms, of 
the Mexican war — his purposed and pledged silence on the infamous 
system of human bondage — his uncalled for and ungenerous, if not 
cowardly, rebuke of a fellow-countryman, the editor of an American 
press, for his opposition to the monstrous provisions of the Fugitive 
Slave Bill, and his hardly disguised censure of the abolitionists — as 
falsehood to his high professions, treason to the cause of humanity and 
human rights, injurious to the nation he seeks to aid, fatal to his own 
fame — in worldly phrase, " worse than a crime, a folly," if he supposes 
such a course will gain him either sincere sympathy or effective aid ; 
and an added blot on the dark brow of American Slavery, that she has 
succeeded in melting, in the lap of her temptations, another of the 
great historic names of the age, and left him " to grind in the mill " of 
her infamous service, 

2. Resolved, That the craven and time-serving conduct of Theo- 
BOLD Mathew and Louis Kossuth, under the poisonous influence of 
the American atmosphere, makes us remember afresh, and honor anew, 
the magnanimous spirit and courageous consistency of that true friend of 
America, and of the human race, GEORGE THOMPSON,— a man 
whose sympathies, overleaping the boundaries of nationality, include 
within their embrace the oppressed of all climes and all complexions. 



At the annual celebration of Forefathers' Day, at Plymouth, (Mass.) 
in December last, by the Plymouth County Anti-Slavery Society, the 
following Resolutions were unanimously adopted : — 

1. Resolved, That slavery, as it exists in this country, is neither a 
party question nor a domestic institution ; neither a matter of geograph- 

14 



106 

ical interest, exclusively, nor purely an American affair ; but it is a sys- 
tem of robbery, pollution, blood and atrocity, which language cannot 
describe, nor the imagination grasp, — in comparison with which, the 
concentrated despotisms of Europe are as the dust in the balance, — and 
to denounce which is the right and duty of every man, whether native 
or foreigner, who is conscious of its existence. 

2. Eesolved, That the inconsistency and hypocrisy of this nation, 
which had no parallel among the ancient Jews, are again signally dis- 
played in the pomp and circumstance attending the reception of Louis 
Kossuth, the Hungarian fugitive from Austrian oppression ; in its pre- 
tended sympathy for the cause of civil liberty abroad, as represented in 
his person ; in its affected abhorrence of the tyrannous alliance between 
Austria and Russia ; and in the contribution of money and arms to 
enable the Hungarians to recover their lost rights, let the effusion of 
blood be what it may. 

3. Resolved, That as our colossal slave system is the evidence of 
our national contempt for the rigbts of man, so it serves as a sure test 
by which to reveal the true character of ever}' distinguished foreigner 
who lands on our shores ; and we lament to say, that the application of 
this test, thus far, has produced the most melancholy and astounding 
results, in either a " base bowing of the knee to the dark spirit of 
slavery," or a cowardly silence on the subject, in order to secure the 
favor of a slaveholding and slave-trading people. 

4. Resolved, That, standing on Plymouth Rock, as the voice of a 
cause which is the natural growth of the principles which have rendered 
that Rock illustrious in the history of mankind ; as the friends and advo- 
cates of impartial liberty, without regard to complexion, race, country, 
or clime ; we record, with the deepest sorrow, the defection of one who 
owed to his own great fame, — to the principles on which he claimed for 
Hungary the sympathy and interposition of the world, — not only not to 
sacrifice the Avelfare of the colored race to the benefit of his own 
countrymen, but to have known and declared that the cause of civil 
liberty was one the world over ; and that such a course must be fatal in 
the end to the highest interests of humanity. 

5. Resolved, That the return of this hallowed anniversary brings to 
our glad and grateful remembrance the presence of our uncompromising 
and unfaltering trans-atlantic coadjutor, GEORGE THOMPSON, a 
year ago ; that we tender to him the renewed expressions of our love, 
admiration and gratitude, for the glorious example of a world-wide con- 
sistency of principle in his advocacy of the cause of universal freedom ; 
and that his example is rendered still more precious and illustrious by 
the lamentable defection of the great Hungarian exile, who is dumb in 
the presence of three millions of chattelized slaves, as a master stroke 
of worldly policy, but which act is one of revolting inconsistency and 
criminal exclusiveness. 



107 



At a meeting of the Dublin Anti-Slavery Society, held in Eustace 
street, Dublin, the 7th of First Month, (January,) 1852, the following 
resolutions were offered, discussed, and unanimously adopted : — 

1. That this meeting has read with grave disapprobation the report 
of an interview between a deputation of the American and Foreign 
Anti- Slavery Society and Louis Kossuth, late Governor of Hungary, on 
his arrival in New York, in which, after presenting an official address of 
welcome and sympathy, the deputation intimated that " no reply was 
desired," on the ground that, as the nation's guest, he should be absolved 
from any expression of sympathy which might compromise his cause by 
implicating him with any of the parties in the United States. 

2. That this meeting considers that in thus voluntarily releasing Louis 
Kossuth from the duty incumbent upon him, as upon every one, to ex- 
press sympathy with the down-trodden millions of republican America, 
the deputation have, according to the extent of their influence, inflicted 
a serious injury on the anti-slavery cause, by establishing a dangerous 
precedent for every other visitor to the United States who may plead 
absorbing claims or pecular interests as a release from personal effort for 
the slave, or the expression of sympathy for his wrongs. 

RICHARD D. WEBB, Secretary. 
George Addey, "] 

Richard Allen, 
Joseph Allen, 

Hewetson Hduondson,)- Members of Committee. 
William Fisher, | 

Joseph Fisher, | 

William Webb, \ 



From the (Ohio) A. S. Bugle. 

GEORGE THOMPSON AND LOUIS KOSSUTH. 

Dear Maritts : — Last spring, some half dozen of us, now in attend- 
ance on the Fair, heard George Thompson, in a speech before the 
American Anti- Slavery Society at Syracuse, utter the following words : 

" A nation in chains, and talk of sympathy with the Hungarians, and 
of sending a ship to bring to the shores of this country Kossuth ! Why, 
if Kossuth be a consistent man, instead of bandying compliments with 
Cass, he would send him words that would scorch his very soul, and say, 
' Keep your compassion for 3,000,000 of your countrymen in chains ! 
If you have sympathy to spare, pour it over 3,000,000 of chattel slaves 
in your midst ! Though banished from my country, from the banks of 
the Danube to the banks of the Bosphorus, my limbs wear no chains ! 



108 

No overseer drives me to labor in the morning ! No tyrant's frowns 
wither my manhood ! I am free under the Sultan of Turkey, and sur- 
rounded by his protection ! If you, Lewis Cass, or you, Millard Fillmore, 
or you, Daniel Webster, have a superfluity of sympathy, send it South- 
ward, and let it console 3,000,000 of Americans in bonds ! Kossuth 
has enough for himself, and something to spare for them, and he makes 
a contribution to the slaves of America of the sympathy tendered to 
patriotic Hungarians ! ' [Loud applause.] 

I shall doubt the patriotism and love of liberty of every man who 
comes from revolutionary Europe to these shores, to accept the hospital- 
ity of slaveholders. [Cheers.] If he be a patriot, a lover of liberty, 
whether he fly from the banks of the Danube, the Seine, or the Tiber, 
let him go to New England, and find a home with the persecuted and 
maligned abolitionists of the country ! Let him throw in his lot with 
them ; let him range himself under the banner of ' No Unioti with ty- 
rants ! ' But let him not quit the tyranny of a crov/ned despot in Eu- 
rope, to lay his manhood before 20,000,000 of confederated Republi- 
can {}) despots in this country ! " [Applause.] 

In all the speeches which I heard George Thompson make while I 
was East, (some twenty in number,) I never heard him say a single 
thing which produced so wonderful an effect as the first of these para- 
graphs. I never saw an audience so absolutely electrified. It was as if 
the very lightnings of heaven had been playing over our heads, and as 
each of us, after the cloud had swept by and the shock was past, had 
looked around in bewilderment and amaze. So deafening and long- 
continued were the shouts of applause, that it was many minutes before 
Mr. Thompson could proceed ; and there was not one man in that vast 
hall who did not sympathize with him, and feel that he was rights and 
that if Kossuth were one whit other than he, Kossuth would be wrong ! 
Alas, that Kossuth has proved himself other ! Alas, that the Hungari- 
an has not filled out the glorious picture so nobly drawn for him ! Alas, 
that we have yet but one George Thompson ! 

Yours for a consistent Kossuth, 

Salem, Ohio, Dec. 31. J. T. 



FroBi the London Morning Advertiser- 

OlfE MILLION DOLLARS REWARD. 

[from a CORRESPONDENT.] 

Ran away from the subscriber, on the 18th August, 1849, a likely 
Magyar fellow, named Louis Kossuth. He is about 45 years old, 5 feet 
6 inches high, dark complexion, marked eyebrows, and gray eyes. He 
pretends to be free, but says he was robbed of his freedom. He was 
confined in the barrack jail of Kutayah, but escaped on the first of Sep- 
tember. It is strongly suspected he was harbored by the Captain of the 
Mississippi, as he was seen on board that ship at Spezzia, Marseilles^ 



/ 



109 

and Lisbon. Captains and masters of vessels are particularly cautioned 
against harboring or concealing the said fugitive on board their ships, as 
the full penalty of the law will be rigorously enforced. He was lately 
heard of in England, where he passed himself ofT for free, but is sup- 
posed to have sailed for the United States in the Humboldt. He has a 
free Magyar woman for his wife, by the name of Teresa Meszleyi, lately 
removed to the United States, and is said to be at the house of President 
Fillmore, where it is likely her husband will be lurking, or she harbor- 
ing him. He speaks English well, but with a slight stutter, particularly 
if a little excited. 

The above reward will be paid, if delivered to me at Vienna. If 
lodged in any jail in any of the States, (so as I can get him,) one-fourth 
in cash, balance in a note, payable six and twelve months, by a member 
of the Society of Friends, said to deal in loans, Lombard-street, 
London. 

N. B. If the fellow cannot be taken alive, I will pay a reward of 
250,000 ducats for his scalp. Terms as above. 

FRANCIS JOSEPH, Emperor of Austria. 

Vienna, Dec. 19, 1851. 



THE AMERICAN SLAVE TO KOSSUTH. 

BY W. E. CHANNING. 

Where the dark Danube proudly runs, 
Mayhap your heart, your hope may be ; 

There live your brothers, — noble ones, — 
For whom you crossed the rolling sea. 

And many a vine-clad cottage stands, 
And peasant hearts throb aching there ; 

You pray, you weep, you lift your hands 
To God, — for life, for light, your prayer. 

You think of your dear sister's foiTn, 
Crushed by the impious Haynau's blow ; 

Your feelings true, your heart so warm, 
Feel, then, for us, feel for our wo ! 

Slaves in the land of Freedom bright. 
Slaves on the wild Missouri's side. 

And Texan vales in sunny light. 
Slaves on the old Potomac's tide ! 

The lash we feel, the chains wo wear, — 
God of the Free ! shall Kossuth come, 

Nor strike for us, and empty air 
Pour from his mouth for his lost home ? 



110 

Awake ! thou burning Magyar soul ! 

Strike for thy brother slaves in view ! 
Then calmly shall the ocean roll, 

Nor vex thy heart so warm and true. 

Where are our wives ? — to torture sold ! 

Kidnapped our children,— love disgraced ! 
Hope, home, affection, all for gold 

At once torn out, and life effaced. 

O Kossuth ! Magyar ! Man, at last ! 

Betray us not, nor let there be 
Our curses lingering on thy past, 

Our hate a household thing for thee. 

Are we not men ? — are we not slaves 1 
By the dark Danube there's no more : 

Thy brothers found right glorious graves 
Along his wild, romantic shore : 

And we would die — but galls the chain ; 

Die — but in prison foul our lot : 
By inches killed, the wretch's pain, 

Who, dying, lives by all forgot. 

Strike, then, for us, with thought and prayer, 
God give thee power, most noble heart ! 

Nor waste thy words on empty air, 

But, flying slave, take the slave's part I 



TO KOSSUTH. 

BY W. E. CHANNING. 

Spurn ! spurn the bribe ! ford not the Southron river ! 
Death courses in its crimson tide for ever ; 
A flood of sin too strong for man's recalling, 
Where slavery reigns, and breeds its crimes appalling. 

What freezing mockery to make slavery's speeches. 
And waft thy blessing o'er its bloody reaches ! 
That soil wide streaming with the negro's anguish ; 
Their fetters clank, in prisons still they languish. 



Ill 

Spurned, scorned and branded, they survive, half dying— 
AVives sold, child sold— the scourge, the scourge replying— 
Our brother-men— true rulers of this nation, 
Victims of what? but thee and thy ovation! 

On thee their deathless scorn as traitor hanging. 
Around thy neck their chains of horror clanging, 
Thou dar'st not meddle with domestic duties, 
And will accept feU slavery and its beauties. 

Our bragging land will wreck, and Freedom perish ; 
God has some heart, nor doth HelFs statutes cherish; 
Soon shall the States be lashed by dread commotion- 
One fate to all, one flood, one vengeful ocean. 

Those tortured hearts to Heaven for life are crying ; 
God's angel to their thirsty hopes replying, 
" The day shall dawn, this terror dark abated, 
I am not spoused with Sin, with Satan mated." 

From dismal swamps of Carolina's planting, 
From Georgia's hills, the volleyed hymn is chanting, 
" Give back our freedom ! slaves all past describing; 
Hungarian martyr, spurn their loathsome bribing ! 

" Demand our prompt deliverance ! cry in thunder, 
And stir the torpid soul to joy and wonder ! 
Burst off these chains, our freedom just demandmg,— 
Then ford yon stream, each heart thine own commandmg ! 



TO KOSSUTH. 

BY WILLIAM LLOYD GAERISON. 

Is it for thee to deal in glowing fiction? 

To call tliis land great, glorious and free? 
To take no note of its sad dereliction 

From all that constitutes true liberty ? 
To feel upon thy spirit no restriction 

By aught that thou canst learn, or hear, or see ? 

While this republic thou art warmly thanking, 
For aiding thee once more to breathe free air. 

Three million slaves their galling chains are clanking, 
Heart-broken, bleeding, crushed beyond compare, 

At public sale with swine and cattle ranking, 
The wretched victims of complete despair 1 



112 

The government that thou art now extolling, 
As well-deserving measureless applause, 

By its strong arm these millions are enthralling. 
And persecuting those who plead their cause : 

0, rank hypocrisy, and guilt appalling ! 
Like Draco's code, in blood are writ its laws. 

For 'tis by law the father, son, and brother, 
Know nought of filial or parental ties ; 

By law the sister, daughter, wife, and mother, 
Must claim no kindred here beneath the skies ; 

Ail at the fiendish bidding of another 

Their God-given rights must basely sacrifice. 

By law the fugitives from stripes and fetters, 
Who seek, like thee, a refuge safe and sure 

From murderous tyrants and their vile abettors, 
Are hunted over mountain, plain and moor ; 

Dragged back to slavery, as absconding debtors. 
To toil, like brutes, while life and strength endure. 

By law, 'tis criminal the slave to pity, 

To give him food and shelter from his foes ; 

For him no hiding-place in town or city ; 
He must be hunted wheresoe'er he goes ; 

And they are branded as a vile banditti, 
Who for his freedom nobly interpose ! 

Behold what scenes are in our courts transpiring ! 

Behold on trial placed the good and brave, 
For disobedience to the law requiring 

That he whom God made free should be a slave ! 
Arraigned as traitors with a zeal untiring, 

And, if convicted, hurried to the grave ! 

0, shall the millions here in bondage sighing, 
Branded as beasts, and scourged with bloody whips, 

The " property " of tyrants God-defying, 
Hear not one word of pity from thy lips ? 

O be not dumb, to thy reproach undying — 
And thy great fame save from a dire eclipse ! 



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